icravewordpress steals wordpress themes
If you are a WordPress Theme Creator who offers free themes from your website, I warn you there is a snake in our little corner of the web. I won’t give the asshat a link but you should check to see if any of the themes you’ve worked so hard to create are being used at icravewordpress.com to boost his adsense revenue at your expense.
I have no problem in people who own sites listing wordpress themes for download who link to my page of free wordpress themes. That brings me traffic. If they have adsense I have no problem with that, since I’m getting a link out of the deal. Quid pro quo and all that. But when someone offers MY themes for direct download from his or her site I get no traffic, and they’re profiting off my themes, themes that are copyright Kickass Web Design, and being offered free for NONCOMMERCIAL use.
Now, this wouldn’t burn my buns so much if this idiot had asked first and accepted a “no, thank you”. But no, that’s not the way this came down. I was notified after the fact. I politely asked for the files to be removed, and was told I was being given “free advertising” and the files were left in place.
Anyway, I’ve notified the jerk’s filehost, MediaFire, and the jerk’s webhost, MediaTemple, and let Google know that an adsense site is making dough off other people’s copyrighted work. I also posted a warning on the WordPress Forum so that other theme developers could check and see if this idiot is profiting off them.
*update* MediaFire is incredible, they removed the offending file very quickly. I also let the person know that I would keep pursuing this until he removed my themes, and they’ve been removed. I did have to threaten to contact an attorney before it was done though.
[tags]wordpress theme thief, wordpress theme adsense splog[/tags]
December 7th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
Geesh. Scum of the earth…. you don’t wanna know what I wish on him….
December 8th, 2006 at 10:36 am
What a parasite! Good for you for defending your property rights. I’m glad to see MediaFire was so responsive, I hope the other parties are too.
Now in a non-capitalist society where there are no property rights…
December 8th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Well, according to the responses I’ve gotten in the WordPress Support Thread icravewordpress isn’t the only one. Luckily the others haven’t found me yet.
December 10th, 2006 at 12:25 am
I think your being a pussy about it especially over a couple Adsense dollars haha. Isn’t your name and contact info still in the file ? Probaly…So therefore he’s not taking claim for your work unless that information has been altered. Your themes are also on a 3rd party site and someone had to upload them(you), therefore it’s free game. There is no selling of your work or claiming it’s his. Therefore you lose.
Jealousy…call the whambulance!
December 10th, 2006 at 12:45 am
John, you obviously have not a creative bone in your body, otherwise your opinion would not be what it is. Either that or you’re the guy who owns icravewordpress (or a site like it) and you figure it’s perfectly okay to steal creative COPYRIGHTED work from other people.
December 10th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
Here’s another scumbag…http://www.wordpressloser.com
December 10th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Thanks, Adam.
December 10th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
No I’m not the guy who owns icravewordpress. I just think that if you’re going to allow your files for download and allow them on other sites, then what’s the problem? He’s not stealing your work since it is publicly available for download on several sites and he’s not selling it either. He’s allowing it for download which is actually getting your name out there since your name and info is in the files. Therefore the only thing he is doing is benefiting you and I don’t know if you have a link to your website in the files but maybe you should add it and then submit to him. If someone stole my work and was selling it, I’d be pretty mad but not if they were redistributing it for me and getting my name out there. Its free advertising.
December 10th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
So far the only other place that has ONE of my theme files available for download besides this site that I KNOW ABOUT is a site that gives me a linkback, and it was my decision to have that one theme available there. IF there are other sites that are making my themes available for download I want to know about it. I make it very clear in my Terms and Conditions that my themes are available for NONCOMMERCIAL USE, and that I retain copyright. What is so difficult to understand about that? Redistribution is not USE. Redistribution is not a linkback. And redistribution on an adsense site that is commercially benefitting by offering MY work without my permission is clearly not allowed under my TOS.
If you create stuff you have a right to release it any way you want, and if you wish to allow redistribution that’s YOUR decision. I do not allow it.
And personally I see NO benefit to my name being on an adsense splog site. Quite the opposite, actually.
December 10th, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Well, “John” may not be the thief in question, but my guess is he’s another of the same ilk…. otherwise why post at all?
Again…. scum of the earth. The bottom line is obviously beyond his minimal brain power: without permission NO ONE should have your themes available for download.
What’s hard about that?
December 28th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
I think your all fucking assholes.
the people you call scumbags ar just distributing a file wich would be very hard to find if it would be only in your page.
Fuck you all and fuck your propety rights.
In a non-capitalist society where there are no property rights everyone would share everything and you shitheads would be isolated in your egocentric shitheads mind.
Once again fuck you all
Gawain
December 28th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Gawain, only people who lack the skills or creativity to do it themselves, and who KNOW they’re deficient in skill use this particular argument. And the care you took to stay anonymous also labels you a person who most likely steals from other people, otherwise why not tell us who you are?