Is this legal?

Hello,

I am not sure this is legal so I better ask before doing something...

If I start a website that gives away free templates,

Can I for example take a free template from sombody on this forum and put it on my site. I will give credit to the original devlopper of the theme.

If not,

What if I modify the theme?

Or would I only be allowed to give away with permission of the original devlopper?

Jelle

 

Alsong as they use the license ?

 

Depends on a lot of factors. Copying always has some risk. The 'artwork' behind the template may be copyright protected. Also check the terms of use.

 

So would crediting to original user without asking his permission first be legal?

 

I think you need the creators authorization...

 

This is a tough one because half of the "Free" template resources out there have just ripped of other designers and posted the templates as their own. If you were to then use them you would have to be sure that you knew who the original designer was and whether or not they allowed the template to be used free of charge.

I think you have a good idea but your concerns are genuine and in the end I don't know if you would ever be able to know with any certainty whether or not the "Free" templates you are using are really meant to be free.

 

You need permission. A lot of people give away free templates in order to get traffic to their site and don't want others getting traffic off of their "free" giveaway. The are allowing the end user to have the template for free, not distribution rights.

As was pointed out, if someone says it is their template, and it turns out it wasn't - you are still liable.

 

Hmm... I surely don't want to get any copyright problems. So I think just picking a free template and distributing it on my website would be no possible.

What if I download a free template and modify it? Like change colors and structure a bit.

 

No, it would have to completely original. Creating derivative work is still infringement.

If you want to use existing templates, just contact the owner for permission first.

 

Hi, I believe you need permission.

this reminds me of software license. For open source software, you can distribute the software and the code, which means you can use and redistribute and change whatever you want.
For free proprietary software, you can use but you are not allowed to redistribute and change anything.

So be sure to check the license if any, and ask permission.

 

Ok,

Will ask permission first before distributing on my website.

Thanks for the replys

 

You should always ask the orignal designer, you should always be able to as long as its not for sale

 

free template doesnot mean 'not copyrighted'.

what you need to check is the licence the author given on the page. or try work that use CC(creative commons).