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Terms and Conditions - Contract
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- Juan Manuel Caro Gonzalez
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 31
- Thanks: 0
- What are the Terms and Conditions exactly should I show my clients in a contract so that they can use the templates? In other words: What is the correct way to offer or resell a product of RocketTheme? How should be specified in the contract? Thanks
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- Matthew
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 299
- Thanks: 0
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First, I am not a lawyer, and I do not officially represent RocketTheme. What follows is my understanding of the matter:
You cannot resell RocketTheme templates under ANY scenario!
Instead, you can use RT templates on sites that you develop for your customers, up to the maximum number allowed depending on your membership.
Obviously, once you have finished, there is nothing stopping your customer from messing with the installed template, but you should not, under any circumstances, be giving them the packages that you downloaded from the club (Template install, Source files, RocketLauncher, etc.) - If they need to do more than tweaks, they must either: 1. Hire you to do them, 2. Hire another developer with an RT membership or 3. Get their own membership.
If you are dealing with a scenario where one of your customers has their own internal Web developer/graphic designer/person who thinks they know HTML, and they want to work on the template as well, then encourage them to get their own membership. They can get by on the 3 month package, assuming that they only want to use the one template, and won't be doing other projects in the future, which makes the expense trivial.
Also, as a reminder of the terms and conditions on maximum template use:
A member can use 2 templates on a three month membership, 3 templates on a one year membership and 2 additional templates per one year renewal. Pro members can use an unlimited number of templates. - www.gofftech.com Web Design
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- Juan Manuel Caro Gonzalez
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 31
- Thanks: 0
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Thank Matthew you for your prompt response. And please excuse me my bad English
I understand well the Terms and Conditions posted on the website of RocketTheme and I also know the scope of my subscription. My business model is to offer customers a package that includes a comprehensive solution of core presence on the Internet, Hosting Domain Template graphics, management and maintenance. My doubts arise in the drafting of the contract:
1. The Terms and Conditions of RocketTheme are expressed as a framework for understanding legal belong to a club, which my clients are not interested in membership (to some extent). I can see RocketTheme just as my provider templates? Or am an intermediary, or perhaps just a promoter?
2. Can I set in the contract with my clients, the same Terms of RocketTheme, but "removing" all expressions that refer to the Club?
3. If I can not resell or redistribute, then what is the business model between what I bought to RocketTheme and what I give to my client? How legalized my "piece of cake" in this process?
4. On the issue of templates and extensions, I would be selling a use? A design? An assistance? A service? A right? A value added?
5. What am I selling? How does the business?
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- Matthew
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 299
- Thanks: 0
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The way that I have always viewed it is that the Web developer is selling any or all of the following:
- Installation of the template
- Installation/configuration of Joomla!
- Customization of the template (logo modifications, color changes, module tweaks, etc.)
- Ongoing support
With regards to the template itself, I promote myself as a designer who is a member, in good standing, of any of the clubs where I might get templates, and familiar with those templates. In other words, they (my client) is paying for my expertise, not the template.
Sometimes, however, there is almost nothing that needs to be done to a template (change the logo, and remove the Rocket, and it is done). When this happens, just give thanks that RT made your life so easy!
If a client balks at paying, because they believe that it is easy, and that anyone could do it if they had the templates, then invite them to download one of the free templates, and play with it for a day. They will quickly realize that the template is only one (important) part of a whole process.
Hope this helps.
Oh, and your English is pretty good! - www.gofftech.com Web Design
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- Juan Manuel Caro Gonzalez
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 31
- Thanks: 0
- Thanks Matthew, your vision helped me to better understand the business. I must confess that at first I wanted to put in a black box to Joomla and RocketTheme in the eyes of the customer, but I see that in legal terms and in practice became more complicated things. Again, thank you for your answer and I do not know if you want to add anything else.
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- Juan Manuel Caro Gonzalez
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 31
- Thanks: 0
- While I am not clear point 2: Can I set in the contract with my clients, the same Terms of RocketTheme, but "removing" all expressions that refer to the Club?
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- Matthew
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 299
- Thanks: 0
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This might warrant an official response, but in my opinion, you probably do not want to use the RT terms, since those terms really are all about licensing a template for reuse, and you are not actually doing that.
What I do, is include a section in my generic contract that reads like this:
"The visual component of our dynamic Websites is template driven. These templates may be developed in house, or obtained commercially. In either case, the client is granted usage rights only. No ownership of templates is conferred or implied by this contract."
Sometimes a client complains, and wants to "own" their template, at which time I explain that they continue to own their logo, and other visual elements, but that the underlying code of the template (module positions, etc.), is owned either by me, or by the company that I sourced the template from, and if they want to purchase a template that they have the right to resell, or use however they like, then it has to be built from the ground up, and I tell people to assume $5000.00 US minimum for a fully custom template from the ground up. That generally takes care of things!
To be clear, I think that you can treat Joomla! and RT like a black box. Some of your customers won't care - they will be tickled pink to get a functional site that looks good, and costs a reasonable amount of money. Others may want to know more about how it works, but unless they are really technically savvy, or they are going to be managing their own site, they don't need to know what is "under the hood". Some developers try to hide the fact that they use Joomla!, which I think is unnecessary. If someone really wants to know, tell them.
As Dennis Miller used to say, however, "That's just my opinion, I could be wrong." - www.gofftech.com Web Design
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- Tommy Kokko
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 23
- Thanks: 0
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Matthew wrote:
Sometimes, however, there is almost nothing that needs to be done to a template (change the logo, and remove the Rocket, and it is done). When this happens, just give thanks that RT made your life so easy!
Well. It might not be just that easy. According to a recent conversation between me and RT support, you "need to significantly modify each template for each of your individual client's websites (a simple logo change and installation would not qualify as a significant modification)".
I bet there are many pro members breaking their agreement with RT on this point, since many of the templates really are good to go with just those changes you mentioned and the matter is not very deeply specified in the terms.
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