Comments on: WordPress Theme Licensing

By: WordPress, Thesis, et la licence GPL | WordPress Francophone

WordPress, Thesis, et la licence GPL | WordPress Francophone — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:41:50 +0000

[...] Boren (membre d’Automattic, lead dev de WP) nous apprend en quoi le débat ne peut être comparé à celui des applications desktop, notamment les modules [...]

By: biber hapı

biber hapı — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:50:34 +0000

By the way, look where they are now. It’s not business savvy at all. Anyone heard something interesting going on in MT these past years? WordPress, Textpattern, Drupal, Dotclear, PunBB and a truckload of other software are getting a lot of attention, news, posts, comments, articles, buzz. MT and other similar non-libre software aren’t. Do the math.

By: that girl again

that girl again — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:03:04 +0000

I would not like to be the lawyer arguing that adding php code to a pre-existing html template transforms it into a ‘derivative work’, and that the GPL-ness of the few lines of PHP trumps any previous licences and the rights of all original creators.

I mean, yeah, I understand this argument, but it still defies all common sense. My years of following these debates have only reinforced my initial belief that GPL is a fundamentally incoherent and therefore sucky licence, and that it is a crying shame that WP got lumbered with it when there are saner alternatives out there. I wish somebody could build a time machine and tell Michel Valdrighi what a mess his decision was going to make years down the line.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:49:47 +0000

It’s been here for quite a while : http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/k2

By: #thesiswp And My Code « Viper007Bond.com

#thesiswp And My Code « Viper007Bond.com — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:39:08 +0000

[...] opinions on why WordPress theme PHP files are required to be licensed under the GPL as many, many, many, people have done a much better job at it then I could ever [...]

By: Agus Suhanto

Agus Suhanto — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:08:47 +0000

Yes, I can see that point of view.

Then, my question is: why CSS/images can be licensed separately, but the code cannot? Both CSS/images and codes can be seen as intellectual properties. If the freedom of the users should trump the developers, doesn’t it apply to designers too?

By: Mike Schinkel

Mike Schinkel — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:48:05 +0000

@Chris Wallace: Kudos to you for using the GPL (that’s an attractive site too!) As for Drupal, wouldn’t there be the same issue there[1], too?

[1] http://drupal.org/licensing/faq#q7

By: Mike Schinkel

Mike Schinkel — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:45:22 +0000

@Jérémie “Nice, but what would anyone like is not the issue here. Legalities are. And under the GPL, the extreme majorities of WordPress themes (well the PHP part of it certainly, for some the CSS too, usually not the graphics) are de facto GPL too. Like it, don’t like it, it’s the way it is.”

Yes I agree that legalities are the important part. But your assertion that “it’s the way it is” is, at this point, just your opinion. There are reasonable arguments[1,2,3] that assert the contrary. The fact is until these opinions are tested in court they will be just that, opinions.

[1] http://perpetualbeta.com/release/2009/12/why-the-gplderivative-work-debate-doesnt-matter-for-wordpress-themes/
[2] http://perpetualbeta.com/release/2009/11/why-the-gpl-does-not-apply-to-premium-wordpress-themes/
[3] http://drewblas.com/2010/07/16/beyond-thesis-does-the-gpl-go-too-far-and-what-makes-a-derivative-work/

By: Mike Schinkel

Mike Schinkel — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:39:19 +0000

@shawnsandy04 What @Eric Marden and @Osborne said.

By: Mike Schinkel

Mike Schinkel — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:37:13 +0000

@Osborne: “WP should promote only themes that are fully GPL based (incl. CSS/Images).”