Joomla! Discussion Forums

Hi,

We are looking to release our very first plugin for Joomla. It is FREE, but we just want to make sure it is safe to simply post on our website and to submit to JED.

Do we need to do anything else? Are there cases of people hijacking other people's work as their own?

It's a small plugin, but nonetheless we did spend significant resources to get this up and running. It would be a shame if there were issues like the kind I mentioned above. I have spent good two hours researching extensions, docs, forums, GPL, US gov't copyright page, etc.

I just need some input from people who have released FREE plugins in the past. Please share your experiences/thoughts/inputs. THANK YOU!!!

Cheers,
@mergenchuluun
@webguruco

The only thing you can do from a practical perspective is to ensure your copyrights are in each file header.

The only legal consideration is obtain a trademark in advance, but this is usually WAY, WAY overkill for most situations.

@vdrover Duly noted. I guess the copyright is an overkill, too. hehe. Thank you for your quick feedback. Much appreciated.

Not sure what Mongolian copyright laws are like, but in the USA you are automatically granted a copyright when you create the work. Add "Copyright 2009 by [your name or business here]" to the source code and you're good to go. You can register your copyright (http://www.copyright.gov/register/) if you want more legal weight, but it's usually overkill if you're releasing something for free.

Whether or not people respect your copyright (and what practical things you can do to discourage infringement) is a whole different story. However, the JED does have a policy of removing extensions that are merely rebranded copies of other people's work.

Sweet! That's good to know @Joseph! We'll be releasing our brand spanking new plugin today or tomorrow, then!

CHEERS!