[wp-hackers] Re: Removal Of Over 200 Themes?

[Otto]

Wow, this thread kind of ballooned while I was working. I'm going to
reply to several things I just read at once.

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 1:57 PM, Jeff Chandler <jeffro at jeffro2pt0.com> wrote:
> So to get this straight, it is perfectly acceptable for someone to sell a
> wordpress theme and make a business out of it but it is not acceptable to
> state that the work, or the links within the work can not be modified and
> redistributed?

Yes, that is absolutely accurate. The GPL doesn't care if you sell a
work, it only cares that the receiver of that work has the same rights
you do, and that the work remains "free as in speech".


On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 2:13 PM, Joost de Valk <joost at yoast.com> wrote:
> What I'm really trying to say, I think, is that it'd be good if it were
> easier to actually make MONEY with WordPress, but on the other hand, that
> goes for just about anything on the internet :)

I'd say that the definition of "good" in your statement depends on
your point of view. It'd be good for you, certainly.

I dunno. I'm a programmer, and one thing that bugs me a lot throughout
the views of many on the internet is that it is somehow possible to
write one piece of code and sell it forever, making infinite amounts
of money off of it. This sort of comes from the whole writer and
copyright thing, where authors and creative types were suddenly given
an entitlement to make endless amounts of money by granting them
ownership of intangible things. Until the last 100 years, that has not
really been the case for the rest of the history of the species, so
why the change?

Sorry, I kinda just expect to work for my money. I get paid to
program, I don't program something once and then expect to keep
getting paid for it forever.


On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 2:15 PM, Jeremy Clarke
<jer-wphackers at simianuprising.com> wrote:
> If Otto wanted to be extreme about it, he could buy some "Non-GPL"
> plugins/themes, then post them on his site for free and claim that
> they are GPL because they use wordpress code. Then if the original
> author sued him the courts would make a decision about how the GPL
> applies in this case.

Actually, that would be an incredibly bad idea, because it's a
lose-lose for my end. If the courts ruled that the author of the
plugin/theme violated the GPL, then he would not have the rights to
distribute that code under the license he distributed it under. In
which case it reverts to the default: his copyright only, nobody else
has rights to distribute it... Result: I lose either way. The only
thing that could happen is that he has to GPL his plugin/theme or stop
distributing it entirely. I still lose and pay damages.

No, the only people who can get a win there are the WP copyright holders.