I think its wtong to charge for skins that use copyrighted material

[dac4m4]

I have ZLauncher and am very disturbed to see that many skins costs $2. I understand people take a while to proggram these. But, to use copyrighted material (such as XP skins or OS X skins) and charge for them is illegal. Frankly, I cant believe Palmgear accpets money for this garbage because that is probably illegal to

What happened to days when people distributed stuff for free/ Besides Honolulu, the other skin makers are money hungry, copyright stealing thiefs (sorry if i included some honest people in my indictment)

[dac4m4]

also sorry for all the typos (i',m crying over spelling too wrong). for some reason i can't edit the above post

[kdn102]

I have to agree about the possible XP copyright infringement. However, we don't know that he didn't contact Microsoft for permission. I would be pretty surprised if he did, but we have to give the benefit of the doubt.

[dac4m4]

True,

I guess he theoretically could have asked Microsoft for permission. But do you honestly think they would allo someobody to use their material and sell it for profit?

I know you don't.... it is just annoying to me that these greedy people are STEALING and CHARGING for thier "artistic endeavours"

[Rizal]

it's a good thing Microsoft has you to protect it's interests against little people like Palm OS Launcher skinmakers. You should call Microsoft ad rat on the "pirates" maybe you'll get a free keychain out of it.

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by Rizal
it's a good thing Microsoft has you to protect it's interests against little people like Palm OS Launcher skinmakers. You should call Microsoft ad rat on the "pirates" maybe you'll get a free keychain out of it. Nah ~ as many lawyers as Micro$oft has, I'm sure they'll take care of it . . . the same for the ones selling Apple icon skins . . . I don't mind paying for ORIGINAL skins, but . . . NOT for plagarized work . . . frankly, I'm amazed the places that sell these items don't do something about it (like PalmGear). I suppose it could make them liable as well.

[sonycrazie]

I agreed with dac4M4. And it happens in some icon sets as well. They consist of so many trade-mark logos.

[Brokken]

I'm not sure how to feel about that issue. The original icons might have been created by someone else, but the ingenuity of putting it all together in one cohesive structure deserves some merit as well. If I had to take one side vs the other, I'd probably go with those who side with making it available for free - namely because it makes the developer liable for less. Namely: not profiting from the fruits of their labors. It's an iffy proposition though. Using copyrighted characters in skins too is a bit on the shady side, and yet I see backgrounds with images that are clearly trademarked. On the one hand, I would like to believe that large companies aren't so retentive that they'll go after every little image that one makes use of because they have better things to do with their time. On the other hand, I have received cease and desist e-mails from Gary Larson's attorney for having one of their strips on my old website and demanded $200 if I wanted to continue using it on the site. Having said that, I find it unlikely that those companies would - out of the goodness of their hearts - allow people the use of their icons. Were _I_ to make a skin using copyrighted material (cough!... I'd NEVER do that myself! cough!cough!) I'd probably make it freely available and if possible, mask my identity for the purpose of its release. Just my two cents.