Hi. I've recently started a site which showcases wordpress themes, providing info, links to the theme, that sort of thing. But, one thing I've noticed is that a lot of sites that host the free themes go down, meaning the download link I provide is worthless as it just leads to a 404 Error. Is it legal for me to upload the zip file to my site, so even if their site goes down my users can still download it? I would still give linkbacks in the post and make it very clear it was their theme, just provide a download from my server. Any help greatly appreciated.
It depend on the license of the theme owner , eg. GPL license allow you distributor their theme freely .
I suggest you ask for the permission from the original creators of the themes before putting them on your site for your visitors to download, they will usually agreed to it as it will gain them credibility. Also be sure to give them credits on your download page.
Exactly what justin said, it all depends on how their themes were released. Its like going to hotscripts.com and providing those downloads on your site. If they are released under a GPL license you can redistribute them at will.
If the default copyright permissions do not allow you to redistribute, ask for and get permission (in writing). If you can demonstrate that your distribution of the content will be win-win, then the author/copyright holder should lean favourably. Just a reminder that if a site which used to deploy their copyrighted materials goes down, the copyrights stay in effect. Distributing something which is no longer available from the original source without permissions is a violation of copyright law.