[wp-hackers] Plugin Licensing

[Chip Bennett]

You need to re-read the actual text of the GPL. You grossly misunderstand
the license requirements.

Those who distribute under GPL are under no requirement whatsoever to
release their code "to the public", or "for free". Rather, they are required
to provide, to those to whom they distribute their work, the cleartext
source for that work.

They are under no obligation to distribute their work to any arbitrary
person (i.e. the "public"); they are allowed - explicitly under the terms of
the GPL - to distribute their code only to those who purchase that code. And
if they sell their code, they are only obligated to provide the source code
to those who purchase their code.

Please see the past three years (if not longer) of WP-Hackers archives, for
the ad nauseum repetition of this argument.

Chip

On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 8:28 AM, Piyush Mishra <me at piyushmishra.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 6:21 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net>
> wrote:
>
> > On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 5:56 AM, Piyush Mishra <me at piyushmishra.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I don't think you got the whole idea as I was trying to put it. The
> > source
> > > code remains open source and ready to contribute for people who already
> > do
> > > that and it will always be. Why would WordPress close its source
> anyway?
> > > Its about those people who write plugins and go all heights to make it
> > paid
> > > only. They will have to pay WordPress community back in cash.
> > >
> > > A lot of us pay back to the community in one way or the other.
> > > But there are those who extend WordPress and sell their plugins.
> > > Check this out:-
> > > http://www.gravityforms.com/terms-and-conditions/
> > > try getting the latest version of gforms and this one
> > > http://www.gravityhelp.com/forums/topic/is-it-gpl (yes its true, css
> > files
> > > aren't covered).
> > > My point is as WordPress users get helpless in such situations. we
> should
> > > keep dual license to take care of that or take some action
> > > (copyright infringement / demand giving php files out for free)
> > >
> > > The GPL does not preclude the selling of GPL-licensed code; in fact, it
> > explicitly permits it. You have no legal (or moral) right to "demand"
> that
> > they give their PHP files away for free.
> >
> > There is absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong with what the GravityForms
> > folks are doing.
> >
> >
> Nope there is. as plugins donot interact only as a fork process to
> WordPress, GPL sees it as a part of the software and thus, they are legally
> bound to release their source code in public making it equally easy to
> obtain as they have made the paid version (stripped off of the css n
> images)
>
>
>
> > Chip
> > _______________________________________________
> > wp-hackers mailing list
> > wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> > http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Regards
> Piyush Mishra
> http://www.piyushmishra.com/
> Life's Short, Live it to the maximum
> _______________________________________________
> wp-hackers mailing list
> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
>