Public Accusation/s of Ripping/Theft
Friday, November 18, 2011 by Jafo | Discussion: Skinning
This is an oft-occuring practice which needs to stop.
More often than not it is simply incorrect, potentially harming both the reputations of the accused AND the accuser.
IF there is a suspicion of copyright issue/theft the correct course of action is PRIVATE notification to the site's Moderators/Admins.
NOTHING else is acceptable.
Failure to observe this requirement has the following penalty:-
First strike is censure.
Second strike is reduction to Visitor status.
Third strike is permanent exclusion from Wincustomize.com
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Reply #22 Wednesday, March 14, 2012 7:17 PM
What I always worry about with my books, especially the names of the characters in them, is that someone else would have used it first. I suppose I could stick with James, Fred, and Sally. I did an internet search for the name of my protagonist before I started using it. There were none, not even the porno sites. Now that two books are published there are several out there, both real person and fictional. I didn't even know it was a real person name... At least with documents if push came to shove you can simply do a word replace and be done with it. (and cry for the lost of a terrific name)
I don't think I'll ever share any of my creations once I get some done. I tend to grab a little from several places and then forget where I found them. Then I edit and recolor and use them to figure out just "how" to craft things. What I finish with I hope looks like my own - but is it? Like skinning it is easy, you start with a skin you like and methodically change the graphics, colors, and texts. But you might leave how the things line up, or how the start button animates, or perhaps other animations. Is that ripping or theft? What's the difference between ripping and borrowing an idea? Right now my skins are all kinda ugly and don't work right half the time, but they all started with another that I tore apart and changed. Most are Stardock (which I assume you are allowed to do that with?) but a couple of my favorites that I'm trying to copy are from others. Am I borrowing, ripping off, or when my creation is finally functional, would it be considered mine?
Reply #23 Wednesday, March 14, 2012 7:46 PM
So what? We "heartless Republicans" own green, orange, yellow and many other colors. That "flat colored box" is a probable infringement as well, since we own many geometric shapes, as well.
Hey, I thought the BHL in your nym stood for Bleeding Heart Liberal. 
Reply #24 Wednesday, March 14, 2012 7:49 PM
LizMarr - You're perfectly free to do anything to any skin for your own use.
If (for example) you start with skin x's purple start menu and change it to green, and remove any glyphs, etc. and then add a bunch of your own graphics, it isn't the original skin anymore and doesn't resemble it. No one owns a color or geometric shape.
If however, you wish to upload a skin you have to follow the rules here: https://www.wincustomize.com/upload-guidelines
Quoting DrJBHL, reply 20
So what? We "heartless Republicans" own green, orange, yellow and many other colors. That "flat colored box" is a probable infringement as well, since we own many geometric shapes, as well.
Hey, I thought the BHL in your nym stood for Bleeding Heart Liberal.
It did and still does. Then I bled out...
My politics aren't as simple as a label, I'm afraid. On some issues I'm to the right of Attila the Hun and on others I make doves look like hawks... and Brad thinks I'm a hippy ( ).
Reply #26 Sunday, March 18, 2012 10:35 PM
No, Stardock's skins are theirs only, however it's assumed they are used as a source for 'redesign'.
The issue is with what constitutes SUFFICIENT redesign/change to qualify as 'unique' and thus NOT a "rip".
As with all things Copyright that's often a point of contention. Stardock's Administrators/Moderators are charged with determining what is, and is not a rip presented to Stardock's sites.
We've been at it a long time and seldom make 'mistakes' .
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Reply #21 Wednesday, March 14, 2012 6:34 PM
I have a piece of string that I cut myself. Patent pending too. Nobody can steal my string cause it can't be found. Hell....I can't even find it.