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Just a quick question (or two):

· Am I right in thinking that the smileys that you're using for the Joomla! forums are the IPB smileys?
· If so, how are you guys getting away with using them on a non-IPB forum?!

There is an ulterior motive for this - I'd like to use IPB style smileys on a forum, but I'm not sure if it would be allowed.

Any answer for this one, or do I take it that Joomla! contributors aren't fazed by little quibbles such as licensing?

We are concerned with licensing...

AFAIK the icons are actually Foood.net icons (see credit in footer) and we have received permission to use.

I will confirm this though...

The smileys were found on a website that had a bunch of different smiley sets.  None of them had a license associated with them so there was no ulterior motive.  If they are indeed IPB smileys and they have some license associated that does not allow us to use them, we will remove them.  This is the first i've heard of this though.

Toy wrote:Just a quick question (or two):

· Am I right in thinking that the smileys that you're using for the Joomla! forums are the IPB smileys?
· If so, how are you guys getting away with using them on a non-IPB forum?!

There is an ulterior motive for this - I'd like to use IPB style smileys on a forum, but I'm not sure if it would be allowed.

rhuk wrote:The smileys were found on a website that had a bunch of different smiley sets.  None of them had a license associated with them so there was no ulterior motive.  If they are indeed IPB smileys and they have some license associated that does not allow us to use them, we will remove them.  This is the first i've heard of this though.

Toy wrote:Just a quick question (or two):

· Am I right in thinking that the smileys that you're using for the Joomla! forums are the IPB smileys?
· If so, how are you guys getting away with using them on a non-IPB forum?!

There is an ulterior motive for this - I'd like to use IPB style smileys on a forum, but I'm not sure if it would be allowed.

I'm not out to make trouble for you guys, I'm just interested as I'd been having a little look around to see if there were any IPB 'style' smileys that are free to use - as I said I'd like to use them on our forum.  But please check out http://www.smileygenerator.us & http://www.smileygenerator.ca/faq/ if you guys aren't absolutely sure as to where these images came from, there may be a licensing issue that you're unaware of.

For instance, as far as I can tell these are exactly the same:
Joomla! 'Grin':   /  smileygenerator.us 'happy_biggrin':
Joomla! 'Cool':   /  smileygenerator.us 'glasses_cool':

On the other hand, if you've got permission from whoever owns the copyright on these smileys, then please ignore me!

It seems that the Joomla! 'Grin' is smoother around the edges than the smileygenerator.us 'happy_biggrin', however the inside seems identical, and the Joomla! 'Cool' is identical to the smileygenerator.us 'glasses_cool'. Have you resolved this copyright issue yet?  ???

I know how complicated it can be, I've tried getting hold of copyrights for smileys myself.

Take a look at this site. http://www.smileyset.com/

It says you can use them on your own forum and these are the terms agreed to when you download a set.

THESE SMILEY SETS ARE FOR FORUM USE ONLY!
You may NOT upload or submit these images to any web gallery.

All images are © SmileyGenerator.us

No redistribution is permitted.

By downloading, you agree to be bound by these terms.

well i guess joomla are safe then, but is this copyright for the smileys declared in the T's and C's of this website? I can't find it 

Birmingham... what are you asking??? Are you wanting to know if we are "legally" using the Smillies? I'm a little confused. Thanks!

I've tried to simplify this a bit by creating the new sites:
http://www.smileyset.com
http://www.smileysets.us
http://www.findsmileys.com
http://www.smileymagick.com
for the distribution of "generated smiley sets" for forum use only.

Any "generated smiley sets" are shown there and provided as zip files and the terms posted apply only to those "generated smiley sets" in zip form.

Any displayed images which do not specifically state otherwise, are subject to the terms at http://www.smileygenerator.us/faq
Individual images may NOT be copied.
Code is provided for hotlinking to those images.



Any images displayed at:
http://www.ipbsmileys.com
http://www.ipbsmilies.com
http://www.invisionsmileys.com
http://www.invisionsmilies.com
http://www.findsmileys.com
http://www.invisionsmileys.info
http://www.smiliegenerator.us
http://www.smileygenerator.us
http://www.smileygenerators.com
http://www.smiliegenerators.com
http://www.wenpigsfly.org

which are not zipped sets or do not specifically state otherwise, are subject to the terms at http://www.smileygenerator.us/faq
They may NOT be copied!

I hope that's not too confusing

(Hmmm.... looks very odd with images at align='top' or 'baseline'.  'absmiddle' looks much better I think...)

I do not think the images came from your site, thus we are not held to your terms. If you have questions about these Smileys, please refer all questions to Simple Machine at "http://simplemachines.org". We are using their open-source product. They will take appropriate action. Thanks!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Just to clarify, you are held to the terms of the artist who created them, not to the terms of software that redistributes them.
Anyone using any image is equally responsible for ensuring that copyrights are being respected.
(no mater if they were not created by artists I represent or did not come from my site)

I'm not aware of any opensource redistribution arrangements being made for any of these images outside of the default IPB set at this time.
Most artists will require at least a visible credit for their work and some have strong feelings about redistribution or display on non IPB sites.

You've posted "Joomla! © 2005 - 2006 - All Rights Reserved " at the bottom of this site for recognition of your work, I just think artists deserve the same recognition for their work. 

I'm not suggesting you're violating anything or that any action be taken, just attempting to correct any confusion or misinformation. 

As far as contacting SMF, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than try to deal with anyone from that group.

More image copyright information is available here for any one interested:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40.html#general

Under present copyright law, no image can be "opensource" because copyright assignment is automatic.
If SMF is distributing the images as "opensource" or "public domain", there should still be an artist credit or artist's waiver attached. 

Do what you want with this information, it's just some stuff that a lot of people aren't aware of and it could be helpfull. 

rhuk wrote:The smileys were found on a website that had a bunch of different smiley sets.  None of them had a license associated with them so there was no ulterior motive.  If they are indeed IPB smileys and they have some license associated that does not allow us to use them, we will remove them.  This is the first i've heard of this though.

Please refer to Rhuk's post above.  That is where the smileys originated. 

balamm wrote:Under present copyright law, no image can be "opensource" because copyright assignment is automatic.

Open source does NOT mean copyright free. Joomla is open source but is a copyright work.

Did you miss the quotes around open source?
It means "Opensource",  as in the common misconception that these images are  "public domain".

Otherwise, I have no idea what your point is 

balamm wrote:I've tried to simplify this a bit by creating the new sites:

I hope that's not too confusing

balamm wrote:I'm not suggesting you're violating anything or that any action be taken, just attempting to correct any confusion or misinformation. 

Do what you want with this information, it's just some stuff that a lot of people aren't aware of and it could be helpfull. 

Actually, that was very helpful! I appreciate you sharing all of that with the community. It does get confusing. It's almost enough to make you want to go back to combining the (, ), :, :, yourself! I am certain many, as they put together forums, will find value in that post! If it is easy to follow the rules, most people will willingly do so.

Hey! Now, since you are here...perhaps we might interest you in a CMS? You could pack up all those smilies nicely! ;-)

Thanks, again! Amy :-)

AmyStephen wrote:Hey! Now, since you are here...perhaps we might interest you in a CMS? You could pack up all those smilies nicely! ;-)

Thanks, again! Amy :-)

Amy, I'd like to play with that a bit but I'm afraid I don't have any free time anymore.
I do have the space and resources though so if anyone else wants to have a go with this on our servers, just let me know and i'll try to set something up
(Serious joomla experience will get the highest consideration)

I don't know exactly what the capabilities of joomla are but we have some interesting server features available such as text2speech ( or spoken reply) and "on the fly animation" which, if integrated,  might make for a very interesting site.
Check out the speech capabilties here if you're interested http://www.talkbot.us/BORG

You can contact me at http://www.smileygenerator.us/support  option: general -  if you want any more information