[wp-hackers] Plugin Licensing

[Trent Martin]

> (Admittedly, this stance on principle is not much of a sacrifice for me.
The
> food I put on my family's table doesn't in any way depend on anything I
> contribute to the WordPress community.)

Unfortunately, some of us completely depend on our software to put food on
the table and pay the mortgage and it really sucks when someone in Indonesia
starts selling your software for $5 and it is completely legal for them to
do that if it is GPL. I write software for Windows and Microsoft doesn't own
me, why should writing software for WordPress be any different? The stuff I
sell is 100% my own code and I do not derive from WordPress any more than
WordPress derives from Apache. A plugin is not a derivative work and most
legal experts (other than the FSF) agree, but again facts don't make a
difference to the inner circle, either you obey them or you are shunned.

And who says you can't contribute to the community in other ways? I do
provide free plugins and have contributed a number of bug reports. Also, by
creating software that people use, even if it is proprietary, you are still
contributing to the value of the community and to WordPress as a platform.




On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 12:08 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:

> There are two competing priorities: the legal concerns, and the ethical
> concerns. Here's how I've made my peace with the conflict between the two:
>
> I don't think anyone would question my stance on the matter of WordPress
> Themes/Plugins being inherently derivative works of WordPress. I've been as
> outspoken as anyone on that matter.
>
> However, I accept that the WordPress community has rightfully defined its
> own ethos with respect to acceptable licensing of WordPress Plugins and
> Themes. I can stand on legal principle and disagree with that ethos - and
> as
> a result, become outcast from the WordPress community; or, I can choose
> willingly to give up some of my own freedom and legal rights (of licensing
> choice for works for which I own the copyright), in order to conform to the
> ethos of the WordPress community.
>
> For me, the choice is easy: I want to be a part of the community, and I
> want
> to give back (what little I am able), in a "pay it forward" sense that
> makes
> licensing my WordPress-related code under GPL. So, I choose to do so.
>
> (Admittedly, this stance on principle is not much of a sacrifice for me.
> The
> food I put on my family's table doesn't in any way depend on anything I
> contribute to the WordPress community.)
>
> Others may choose differently, for differing reasons. But I've made my
> choice - even as I remain outspoken regarding the lack of copyright case
> law
> precedent for claiming that copyright law considers *dependent* code,
> absent
> any actual incorporation of copyrightable code, to be *derivative* code.
>
> To be sure: what you *believe* matters. But what matters much more are the
> *choices* you make, based on what you believe.
>
> Chip
>
> On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 12:44 PM, Trent Martin <trentmar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > You just have to face it, either you follow Matt's philosophy and let
> other
> > people copy and even resell your stuff or the WordPress/Automattic inner
> > circle will completely shun you from the community. It doesn't matter if
> > your code is 100% your own work and distributed separately from
> WordPress,
> > if it touches WordPress in any way Matt says it is a derivative work. You
> > can use all the logic, facts, and legal precedents you want but it won't
> > make any difference to them, it's either GPL or you're out.
> >
> > None of the core bloggers will let you advertise on their sites, they
> will
> > refuse to let you sponsor Word Camps, and you will basically be treated
> as
> > a
> > bastard in the community. If you try to converse with important people in
> > the community and they find out you sell non-GPL software, the
> conversation
> > abruptly ends.
> >
> > Also, you cannot advertise your plugin on wordpress.org and of course
> > cannot
> > use any of the distribution or update methods built into wordpress so
> your
> > customers are forced to manually update your software.
> >
> > So yeah go ahead and argue.
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> >
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