Copyright on original work

[markjcrane]

They say "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". However, in this case, it is violating copyright. DjangoPBX seemed to have copied several of FusionPBX's page designs and more. This is not okay to cheat and copy our page designs you need to put in time and come up with your own designs. If you take another look at FusionPBX you will see there is a Copyright notice and the designs are Copyrighted. Therefore DjangoPBX is currently breaking FusionPBX's Copyright and claiming ownership of your copyright of designs that were copied from FusionPBX.

Please use this opportunity to be creative and design original pages. This way you can fix your copyright violations before we are forced to defend our copyright. A peaceful solution is preferred and would be less stressful for both of us.

A few sources describing copyright
- https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-is-copyright/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/copyright

 

[Incubugs]

Sour grapes springs to mind, and saying all the code is fusions is rich, most was nicked from other devs then locked behind paywalls

 

[markjcrane]

Sour grapes springs to mind, and saying all the code is fusions is rich, most was nicked from other devs then locked behind paywalls

What you said here is misleading and false. FusionPBX is open source and half of the original member features have been open-sourced. Of the member features that do exist I wrote all of them. I've open-sourced almost all of the code I've written for more than a decade. I came up with the design for the pages on almost all of the pages with a few exceptions such as the operator panel that was written by a friend that I paid to work on it while I worked on other features.

@Incubugs It is fine that there is competition and DjangoPBX developers have that right. What I'm frustrated about is the blatant Copying of multiple FusionPBX page designs and claiming the copyright over them. This is very evident for some of the pages if you look at DjangoPBX and FusionPBX.

 

[Incubugs]

Mark that's like saying one webpage has a field that's the same name as another, you can't copyright language and yes of course they are going to be similar they both use Freeswitch as the backend.

I have used fusionpbx in the past and I have looked at Django and they are pretty far apart in looks, plus Django also doesn't hide things like wallboards and reporting behind paywalls it is true open source , im not getting into an argument but open source software needs to be kept as such..

 

[markjcrane]

I have used fusionpbx in the past and I have looked at Django and they are pretty far apart in looks

I'm not talking about the theme. The theme is different.

 

[pbxgeek]

@markjcrane, labeling something as open source while imposing copyright restrictions that limit its usage contradicts the very definition of open source. If FusionPBX is genuinely open source, it should allow unrestricted use in any form. Could you clarify whether FusionPBX is truly open source or if it operates under a specific license?

 

[markjcrane]

@pbxgeek Those who are copying it would be subject to the terms of the open-source license and the copyright. And they still can't claim the ownership of the copyright unless the work is original. Copyright laws don't set an extremely high bar for being original but effort needs to go into making it original. The developers can't just copy someone else's work and then claim it as their own and then claim the copyright. That is a copyright violation. To claim copyright you have to make it original with some imagination and effort.

DjangoPBX has a copyright notice on its pages. Most open-source projects have a copyright on the code and the interface. Every open source project is still open-source terms of use are defined in the open source license that goes with the open source project you are using.

 

[pbxgeek]

@markjcrane I agree with your perspective. Removing the original copyright notice would indeed constitute a copyright violation, as it disrespects the terms of the open-source license. However, if the original copyright notice remains intact and the usage adheres to the terms specified in the open-source license, then there wouldn't be a copyright violation.

 

[markjcrane]

@pbxgeek I'm not a copyright expert. However, as far as I understand it there is copyright for code, for page design, and for theme. DjangoPBX is written in Python so the code will be different for that reason. I haven't looked at DjangoPBX code so I'm not commenting on that. Next at the time of writing this DjangoPBX's theme is different so no claim there. The page design on some of the pages is close enough to look like a copy and that is my complaint.

When the creator of Lamborghini decided to create a car company and compete with Ferrari they were both making a car. Both make the same type of product however they are distinct and different. Lamborghini came up with an amazing original style that is uniquely theirs. What I'm asking the developers of DjangoPBX to be original enough so their project can be unique and original.