Is there a way to protect themes?

[baruh]

I stumbled upon my theme Something Blue that I sell for $1.49 to be given by some person for free.
Is there a way to protect the themes so we can prevent this from happening?
Because this person is giving a lot more themes and programs beside my theme.

[russnash]

I found the same with my Morph theme yesterday at yet another website. The first thing I would do is to edit your post and remove the link, you don't want to be helping bring traffic to that website.

Unfortunately, there is no provision in the theme builder software for registration keys or other ways of protecting your intellectual content.

Russ.

[LucidBerryThemes]

This really upsets me. People don't realize how much time and effort we put into making our themes...

[baruh]

Yes, but as russnash says nothing we can do just to hope that those people will realize that the thing they are doing are wrong and will stop.

[StaticFX]

i contact the offending site and ask them to remove the theme... as well as locate the hosting company and notify them that the site is distributing pirated software.... which for MOST hosts its against policy.

cant hurt right?

use WHOIS to find the info....

[LucidBerryThemes]

I used a "splash" screen that shows at the start of the theme, and users just press ESC to remove it until the next reset/upload. It should work as a deterrent as I wrote it is only to be sold on Mobihand/App World. Next time, I'm thinking about a full-screen splash that has some kind of terms/conditions. That's all you can do, really.

[baruh]

There will be always people who will no appreciate other people's work.
Hopefully one day....

[berrygoodthemes]

Originally Posted by LucidBerryThemes

I used a "splash" screen that shows at the start of the theme, and users just press ESC to remove it until the next reset/upload. It should work as a deterrent as I wrote it is only to be sold on Mobihand/App World. Next time, I'm thinking about a full-screen splash that has some kind of terms/conditions. That's all you can do, really.

that isnt very fair for people who buy your theme and then have that crap pop up every time they reboot!!

[LucidBerryThemes]

Originally Posted by berrygoodthemes

that isnt very fair for people who buy your theme and then have that crap pop up every time they reboot!!

No complaints so far, buddy....I don't think anyone's lazy enough NOT to simply press "ESC" once....

If they are, just set a timer so it turns off on its own after a few seconds.

Also, how often does the average user reset/battery-pull? Not too often...

[Rockdog97]

Originally Posted by berrygoodthemes

that isnt very fair for people who buy your theme and then have that crap pop up every time they reboot!!

well it isn't fair that people rip other people off. No different than a photographer putting a watermark on their work or a copyright image. Perhaps better yet would be to put a copyright mark into the svg file so that it is always there?

But I gather from other older posts on other forums that there is software out there for people to essential steal all your code files, etc from a theme...

[wu-wei]

You can claim copyright in the Theme Builder options.

I would recommend a cease and desist letter be sent to the site owner and host.

This does not constitute legal advice, nor is any attorney-client relationship created by this post. (I'm an attorney so I have to say these things).

[Deathcommand]

isn't there a way to add an application to the theme?

Could there be an app that will ask for the Reg Key and if you don't have it then it can delete itself and the theme?