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Licensing for theme, trying to sell site

by prosell
7 replies
I bought this theme but I'm a little confused because I bought it to create a site and sell it but now the owner of the theme says it's an open source code and I can't sell the theme without giving the person my license. Does anyone know how I can make this work for me and what is an open source code. I don't want to give my license to the buyer and have to rebuy the theme b/c it's kind of expensive. Any ideas.


#licensing #sell #site #theme
  • Profile picture of the author dominictuck
    kinda confused. open source is supposed to be free. even if you modify the code... you are not forced to share it. So this license thing is weird.
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  • Profile picture of the author stealthpromo
    That doesnt make sense, if the theme is free, for you to have to transfer a code. Was the theme from a paid membership site?
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  • Profile picture of the author amylimcd
    An open source product is licensed under an open source license agreement. There are several open source licenses out there, but for most of them, you are free to sell, give away or otherwise transfer any product that is subject to an open source license as long as it is assigned/sold subject to the original license.

    Bottom line is that if the product is licensed under one of the popular open source license agreement templates, you can transfer it as long as the new owner understands that the use of the theme is subject to the original license agreement and terms. Most of them allow any use of the product and even the source code as long as the license remains with it (the goal for the original owner is to get some kind of attribution (name recognition).


    The original licensor may have amended his license agreement so it deviates from the standard open source templates- the only way to know what you can do and cannot do is to read the actual agreement- reading legals is like pulling teeth for most but if you are going to sell something, it is worth the effort to avoid any problems later.
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  • Profile picture of the author first response
    have no idea about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author jmackenzie008
    I dn't know about this much
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    • Profile picture of the author lootbags2010
      It sounds like the owner modified open-source code to make it a premium theme or template.

      It's been my experience with open source that you are free to modify the code and create derivative works. Creating a derivative work would sort of make it your theme to license.

      Perhaps if the license the owner provides gives you the rights to modify the theme and you modify it enough (layout, graphics, color scheme, widgets, plugins, etc) to make it your own theme you should be able to sell the site as a theme developed by you with whatever license terms you desire.

      I know a couple of premium theme or template sellers offer developer licenses for about $200-$300 but can be as expensive as $2,500 which should give you the option to develop themes based on theirs that you can resell to as many people as you choose.

      Keep in my my tips are based on not having read your license and that I am not an attorney. The other key assumption is that your license allows the theme to be modified or themes to developed from it.

      Good luck in your endeavor
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  • Profile picture of the author sakthiganesh
    you have to buy exclusive license from the seller to modify the code and sell/distribute for free
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