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Pay to remove SMF Copyright?

Started by DMR123, February 19, 2013, 05:30:43 AM

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DMR123

Hi,
Is there anything I can do to pay and remove SMF's copyright from my forum without breaking any laws or voiding support?

If possible, as i've said, Ill happily pay, but is this allowed?

Thanks.

Kindred

smf 2.0 final and beyond (smf 2.0.1+) are released under the BSD license, which means that you may remove the copyright in the footer (do not touch the copyright inside the files).

However, the smf team may (and probably will) refuse to offer support to sites which have removed the copyright.

those are, essentially the only options.
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Arantor

Why are people so keen to remove the copyright from a free product?

DMR123

Yes, its free, which is great. However, it looks messy.

Arantor

The out of the box one isn't particularly messy - but it can easily get messier if a lot of mods add their own (which you need to talk to the authors about) and/or a custom theme with its own copyright (which again need to talk to the authors about)

I have on one occasion rewritten the footer but even then it included a backlink here (I had a custom theme and needed to keep the theme author's backlink anyway), though in my case it's not like I need the support.

There used to be a rule around paid removal for 1.1.x but it was rather expensive (comparable to an IPB licence expensive) and it had to be a valid reason, just because it's untidy was not a valid reason.

Kindred

Basically, we provide SMF for free. We will never charge for SMF - ever.

If you want to remove the copyright, then fine. BSD allows you to do so.
We have decided, as a team, that sites which remove our copyright obviously do not require support.


I don't quite see how a single line
SMF 2.0.4 | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines
can be considered messy...

event the footer on one of the sites that I manage, which has 4 lines in the footer is still clean looking...

SMF for 40KOnline | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines
Astonished Theme by Diego Andrés
XHTML RSS WAP2
Site & Contents © 2012 40K Online
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Arantor

I personally ran with:
QuoteBuilt on top of SMF 2.x and DzinerStudio's newBalance theme

where SMF 2.x and DzinerStudio were links back to the relevant site. One line, nestled up in the footer area. Does look better than having multiple links in the footer unnecessarily.

Kindred

yeah...   on further thought, I combines the SMF and theme copyrights into a single line for both 40konline and fx-sabers
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

ARG01

I normally do the same with my sites.  ;)
No, I will not offer free downloads to Premium DzinerStuido themes. Please stop asking.

Sir Osis of Liver


I have reduced the font to make copyright smaller (not sure where/why, but iirc the font was quite large in .1x).  Usually remove the XHTML, RSS, WAP2 links, and disable the 'Page created...' stats (who needs them?).  Don't know if any of that bothers anyone, but the footer is smaller and looks cleaner.  Doesn't make sense to do a lot of work customizing a theme, and leave it with a big, cluttered footer.

Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend,
 we were all equal in the end.

                                     - R. Waters

Arantor

Quoteand disable the 'Page created...' stats (who needs them?)

That's not even enabled by default ;)

Removing the XHTML etc. links is fine, though.

LiroyvH

If you think it's messy, customize it in to something you like more! :)
((U + C + I)x(10 − S)) / 20xAx1 / (1 − sin(F / 10))
President/CEO of Simple Machines - Server Manager
Please do not PM for support - anything else is usually OK.

MrPhil

Legally, would you get "just as much" copyright protection if you made a separate page with all the copyrights, credits, and whatnot on it, and had a single "copyrights and credits" link to it? It would certainly be neater than what is now, but I would be concerned that somehow it doesn't legally count as a copyright statement (for whatever that's worth) because it's not physically ON the page in question. Has anyone ever looked into this in various countries? Instead of a separate page, how about a popup or lightbox giving the copyright statement -- would that be more legally effective? Just curious.

Arantor

QuoteLegally, would you get "just as much" copyright protection if you made a separate page with all the copyrights, credits, and whatnot on it, and had a single "copyrights and credits" link to it?

Legally, the displayed copyright is irrelevant. The licence enforces that it must be in the source. Anything else is extra.

It is not a legal matter that the copyright notice must remain in the footer in 2.0. It is purely a matter of ethics, from the team perspective. If someone does not wish to advertise the fact they are using free software, why should they get free help?

Kindred

as for the mod licenses which put a mod copyright in the footer - we are trying to encourage mod authors to use the credits page (there are hooks already) rather than cluttering up the footer with 23 different copyright statements for bits that only trigger on 1 or 2 pages
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

DMR123

I'm using an advanced theme by LogoOff...

I have donated £10 to them which allowed me to remove their copyright.. They said I dont have to keep it anywhere else, but I added it to a legal section in the footer.

I'll keep the SMF in the footer..  Dont want to upset anyone or lose support.

ARG01

Quote from: DMR123 on February 20, 2013, 05:16:24 AM
I'm using an advanced theme by LogoOff...

I have donated £10 to them which allowed me to remove their copyright......

£10 for copyright removal? Really? Damn, I charge $120 for copyright removals.  ;D
No, I will not offer free downloads to Premium DzinerStuido themes. Please stop asking.

DMR123

Okay..

So you guys are saying, if I place a credits page in the footer, that is okay?

Or, will that still prevent me from receiving support?

Thanks

Kindred

the credits page is ALREADY linked in the standard footer.

And no... my comment about the credits page was regarding where we think mods should put their copyrights.
If you want to get support here then you should leave the SMF copyright in the footer. You can alter the appearance to make it fit in nicely, though
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Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

thearmykid

i dont see point in this cause its such an amazing product and its for free why would ya want to get rid of the copyright not many people will scroll down to the bottom just to click it anyways  ???

emanuele

Quote from: DMR123 on February 19, 2013, 05:30:43 AM
Hi,
Is there anything I can do to pay and remove SMF's copyright from my forum without breaking any laws or voiding support?
Workaround: pay someone that gives you support once you have removed the copyright.

Of course it's up to you decide if the paid support is worth the copyright removal.


Take a peek at what I'm doing! ;D




Hai bisogno di supporto in Italiano?

Aiutateci ad aiutarvi: spiegate bene il vostro problema: no, "non funziona" non è una spiegazione!!
1) Cosa fai,
2) cosa ti aspetti,
3) cosa ottieni.

DMR123

Quote from: thearmykid on February 21, 2013, 07:52:42 AM
i dont see point in this cause its such an amazing product and its for free why would ya want to get rid of the copyright not many people will scroll down to the bottom just to click it anyways  ???

I hope people do click on it.. Simple Machines is great. Plus, the support is a hell of a lot better than what you receive for vbulletin.

I'm not asking to remove it for any other reason than minimizing footer size.  I'll leave it all as it is.

emanuele

Disclaimer: I'm not saying you should not remove it, neither I'd be terribly upset (well, I'll not be happy, but that's another story).
I know the feeling of the "huge" footer (SP has a quite huge (c) too :P) and from time to time I'd like to remove some bits me too.

At the end of the day, I suppose (that's my personal opinion, not any kind of official position)  the most important part is the (c) itself: SMF © 201x.
...now that I look at it, is not even so correct as it should probably be "SM" and not "SMF" according to the headers of the files. Or not?


Take a peek at what I'm doing! ;D




Hai bisogno di supporto in Italiano?

Aiutateci ad aiutarvi: spiegate bene il vostro problema: no, "non funziona" non è una spiegazione!!
1) Cosa fai,
2) cosa ti aspetti,
3) cosa ottieni.

Arantor

Quote...now that I look at it, is not even so correct as it should probably be "SM" and not "SMF" according to the headers of the files. Or not?

Yes it is, SMF (the software) is copyrighted (though this is under dispute) to Simple Machines (the organisation)

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