got your email Doreen. Not good

yeah but he sounds very fair, just means you have to back it up now when you have the time it should not take long (though I know you're busy)

If you need me to help, I can "later" on tonight, just contact me okay?

I got this email as answers, don't think this guy will remove it and this neodescis will never stop. I'm really tired to fight. Why it's so hard to make them understand.

**************************************

I thank you for your e-mail, however, see no grounds for action. The following notice is made very clearly in the Pre Luna StyleXP theme on our website:

===========================================
One final note - this skin is BASED on the original
PreLuna theme for WindowBlinds made by Johanne Chainé.
===========================================

The skin was contributed by a neodescis that seems to read board.iexbeta.com... if you would like to contact him directly, you might be able to resolve any issues you may have. I would like to kindly inform you that copyright law does not prohibit an author from creating a product inspired by another copyrighted product.

I have contacted the author directly to verify that all of the work in his theme was created by him.

If you have any themes that you think constitute copyright infringement, please observe these steps:

(1) Gather the materials used to make the original theme as well as those used to make the theme that you claim has been copied;
(2) Contact the original author of the theme and have them make a submission to the party responsible for porting the theme to StyleXP;
(3) Have the original author contact us directly.

Please allow us ten (10) business days to respond to all complaints. We will NOT remove any themes without concrete evidence that the theme was in fact a direct rip - not a derivitive theme, but a theme that contains copyrighted material. If you can provide that, we will cooperate.

Regards,
Chase Venters
-----Original Message-----
From: Johanne Chainé [mailto:alexandrie@cgocable.ca]
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2001 12:30 PM
To: staff@boomgames.com
Subject: RIP


Hi,

There is a skin called Pre Luna on your web site that need to be remove. I create this skin for Windowblinds, Neodescis contacted me after posting it online to ask me permission I said no and explains him why. He removed it and post it again few days later saying that I said yes to the port. Again I came back on neowin board and told him to remove everything releated to my skins and that I never says that I wanted, I said NO. He finally took off everything releated to my skins. Now I am browsing your web site and what I'm finding again, this Pre luna theme again made by neodecis posted by SWitCH. I never give permission to port this skin, and I want this skin off. I hope this is the first and last email I will send.


http://www.boomgames.com/xpthemes/browse.php?sort=utime&order=desc&type=theme&start=45


Regards,
Johanne Chainé
alexandrie@pixtudio.com
http://www.pixtudio.com/

*********************************************

>

so we have to be nice?




look at what I got here! they don't care at all. It's like saying: "take action againt us for real and then maybe we will finally remove it."

I am stunned.. I mean This is the same guy I spoke to abou the Pornographic Logonuis I mentioned earlier. He obviously doesn't realise what trouble he could be bringing on himself,. Look it's not just YOU Alexandrie, being victim here.. it is everyone who happens to create a successful skin theme.

I really think that this behaviour is a disgrace. The graphics in question are quite an obvious rip of the original graphics. In any case, while it is fair to assume that a creation of 'Art' can be inspired and influenced from some one eleses work, just actually copying the graphics with out any prior effort or work on the copying Authors part, thus just using the old copy and paste commands in programs like Paintshop Pro does not in my oppinion consitute ownership of that work.

Huh. Some one report them to their ISP for goodness sakes they really are taking the ...

Anyway they want proof of this being a Rip, ? have you asked StarDock about this ? after all they published your theme with WindowBlinds 3, and so therefor I should imagine is certainly protected by Copyright laws.

If anyone could actually just take some one elses work, and claim it as their own, then I would actually like them to proove they made the skin/Theme honestly.

Providing it is hard to proove, unless of course you can find within the graphics (graphics which do in fact look in everyway identical to your work) i.e methods you used to make the graphic or identifiable marks that are identical to that of the copied work. May proove that the graphics are original graphics which were ripped. [?]

just look at the date created

I think it's clear enough

Alex
I just sent another e-mail to him.

Depends on how much you are upset about this, to take the time to keep responding back and forth until action has been taken.

I'm behind you on it...
Check your e-mail, I cannot open ICQ
Thanks

Grrr...time for me to start kicking some arses.

These little morons have not heard the end of this.

Either they concede they are in breach of a legally enforcable copyright, or their ISP removes their site either for that, and/or for having 'pornography' accessible to minors...

One way or another, this will end...

BTW, derivative works are still a violation of copyright, as the work is being used in a manner not approved by the original author.
This isn't a 'grey' area. I have never seen a blanket disclaimer by any artist in any field allowing the recipient to do 'anything and everything with or to this works as you see fit, for any reason, intent what-so-ever'.....[maybe a release such as that would legitimize porting and derivative works, but otherwise they are definitely in breach of copyright.

[Doreenosis]...gotta change drives/OS to get to my email, etc so I can nuke these little kiddies...

More evidence that the people who use these things have a fundamentally differnet perspective on intellectual property.

BTW, his reasoning on copyright law is wrong. If I take Windows XP and give "Credit" to Microsoft and start giving it away saying I was "inspired" by Windows XP I think the courts would not agree with any grandstanding I might make.

Hey I told ya I'm cured of that Doreenosis stuff!
you Jafonition! hehe

I got your email Doreen thanks a lot

If the good manners don't help with this kind of people, the fear gives the solution...
It is time to "start kicking some arses", Alexandrie.

We have to find out a standard way for not to be ripped in the future.

You are right Alexandrie!!!
Also the site www.themexp.org must be renamed to "THE RIPPERS SITE".
Except from the rips of Styles XP, they have ripped many of my wallpapers !!!
What kind of people are those people?
Someone must help me to stop them; I am not very good in this kind of action.

Yes,.. Perhaps this goes back to the age old issue of just 'How'do you protect the work of the Artist. This come up a while ago, where some people were suggesting some kind of ability from with programs like Skin Studio to actually protect the images from being copied to any other source obviously once you had actually compiled the Skin/Theme.

YaY to Jafo ! Actually I actually kicked boomgames ignorant butt over the Porn Thing which they lightly brushed off as well. But as you say this is not the End of this yet This site, if it cannot operate within acceptible terms of use and the policy does not protect Artists, or Minors because of such material basically being unprotected, and generally laxed in its approach towards Copyrights etc, then this site must be shutdown.

Their morals on Skinning/Themes and Copyrights are obviously very different to what we see on sites like Wincustomize and other places such as deviantart, which ALSO practices a none tolerance towards Ripping. But eitherway these perpertrators of the Standards were used to working, cannot be allowed to get away with this ! Other wise every Author's work won't be safe from harm.

Thecat2000 they will find a way to crack or hack the protection.

I guess we'll all end up having to make sure everything's kosher and properly copyright our work. Apparently the "Honor system" can't be trusted anymore :/

You are right again Alexandrie, there is no way to stop the hackers! But at least you can stop a big number of this kind of people.

Thats bad to read this.. However a protection system would STILL Stop some of them at least. While in the mean time it would make it harder for some one to Steal a Skin, and justify his actions. He wouldn't be able to claim ownership as easily as if the protection had not been there.

Bottom line is this : if a skin is ripped [Sorry Stolen] from an Author, that was made under any such protection system, it will be hard for them to say that they actually created the graphics themselves. Due to the Fact that to make an 'Inspired' reproduction of a theme would have meant that they would have had to have at least access to the Original Graphics in the First Place. How else would an 'Inspired' Theme look identical to the original ?

(I also wished I had sat out more as a Law Student some years ago now !) Tsk..

I know Apple lawyers think that they have copyright rights to art "inspired" by Mac OS 10. Just because you "re-created" the art doesn't mean that you can pass it on as your own. (especially if the artist did *not* give you permission) I guess I should be able to copy the Mona Lisa and say "Well, I painted it myself, it was just "inspired" by Leonardo da Vinci's painting"? Hmmm.. I don't think so..

Artists who make 'linkware' graphics have dealt with very similar issues, and have created many web sites to help educate users. Maybe the skinning community could take their examples and create similar programs for this community.

Here are some links to check out:

http://www.whatiscopyright.org/

http://moyra.com/jewels/eleventh.html

http://www.rightsforartists.com/

http://greyday.org/

http://www.widowsweb.com/widows/plea.html

Your links are very interesting Miss Caylynn !!!
Thank you