Most markets have dual license - PHP/WP code is GPL, images/css/html on the other hand is copyrighted. <div><br>And some themes are not submitted in commercial market due to some financial reasons :)</div><div><br></div><div>
Basically it's up to the developer/theme. Some submit lite version and sell premium + support in addition.<br clear="all"><br>Mario Peshev<br>Training and Consulting Services @ DevriX<br><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev</a><br>
<a href="http://devrix.com" target="_blank">http://devrix.com</a><br><a href="http://peshev.net/blog" target="_blank">http://peshev.net/blog</a><br><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 2:47 PM, Chip Bennett <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net">chip@chipbennett.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>Commercial Themes are not listed in the repository, quite simply because the developers of those Themes do not submit them, and because if someone else did, we would not accept such a submission from someone other than the developer. (Themes submitted to the repository are expected to be the submitter's own work.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>The commercial Themes listing on WPORG is outside of the area of control of the Theme Review Team. We really have nothing to do with that listing.</div><div><br></div><div>Beyond that, this mail list would not benefit from delving too deeply into your other questions regarding free versus commercial Themes, or into matters of GPL compliance/derivative works. Themes submitted for inclusion in the Theme repository are required to be 100% GPL (or compatible). Any commentary beyond that requirement is off-topic for this mail list. There are plenty of other venues for exploring that rabbit hole. :)</div>
<div><br></div><div><font color="#888888">Chip</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 6:37 AM, Noumaan Yaqoob <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:y.noumaan@gmail.com" target="_blank">y.noumaan@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Basically a large number of Premium themes are also GPL. I can not<br>
understand that if these are GPL licensed themes then why they are<br>
behind the paywalls on their official websites and not included in<br>
Wordpress Repositories. What more can be done to get more premium<br>
themes listed here:<br>
<a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/commercial/" target="_blank">http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/commercial/</a><br>
<br>
I looked around and found interesting debates on the topic. It seems<br>
to me that even if a license is not declared or declared anything<br>
other than GPL, many people believe that themes are a derivative work<br>
and automatically inherit GPL license.<br>
<br>
Does that mean that premium themes are not paid themes instead they<br>
are just offering support and other paid services. Is there any<br>
example that a premium theme author asked someone to stop using their<br>
theme because it is not licensed GPL?<br>
<div><div><br>
On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 7:09 AM, Mario Peshev <<a href="mailto:mario@peshev.net" target="_blank">mario@peshev.net</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 5:52 PM, Noumaan Yaqoob <<a href="mailto:y.noumaan@gmail.com" target="_blank">y.noumaan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> @angelo just checked the requirements for theme review and it looks so<br>
>> complicated. These requirements and guidelines do ensure quality I<br>
>> suppose. People who are distributing their themes as Premium themes,<br>
>> how do we know that they have a quality theme that follows similar<br>
>> guidelines as Official Theme Repository?<br>
><br>
><br>
> Some of the markets have reviewers as well, recently I learned that they<br>
> also use the Theme-Check plugin too. Others have less strict workflow or no<br>
> review.<br>
><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> So how people can be encouraged to develop free themes? How about<br>
>> Wordpress starts giving some sort of stickers/buttons/banners to the<br>
>> people who contribute free themes? A sticker that just says I am a<br>
>> WordPress Theme Contributor or something like that?<br>
>><br>
>><br>
><br>
> Some encouragement of this type could probably help, however these themes<br>
> are publicly available (including the search for themes in every WP admin)<br>
> which is good enough if you care about portfolio or something.<br>
><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 8:33 PM, Angelo Bertolli<br>
>> <<a href="mailto:angelo.bertolli@gmail.com" target="_blank">angelo.bertolli@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> > On 12/12/2011 07:25 AM, Noumaan Yaqoob wrote:<br>
>> >> Hi,<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> I was looking around for data about the number of Free WordPress<br>
>> >> themes uploaded to WordPress.org's Themes repository.<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> I feel that the number of high quality Free WordPress themes is<br>
>> >> decreasing and someone should do something about promoting GNU/GPL<br>
>> >> licensed wordpress themes. I have nothing against Premium themes and I<br>
>> >> think it is fine if people want to get paid for the effort they put<br>
>> >> in. But I also believe that we should keep the community spirit of<br>
>> >> free software alive.<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> So any ideas on how GNU GPL licensed free WordPress themes should be<br>
>> >> promoted and how we can encourage more people to contribute?<br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> > Part of the reason is probably because barrier to entry increases over<br>
>> > time. The time and skill needed to make a WP theme now is much<br>
>> > different than it was for WP 1.5--and I think that makes a difference.<br>
>> > _______________________________________________<br>
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><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Mario Peshev<br>
> Training and Consulting Services @ DevriX<br>
> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev</a><br>
> <a href="http://devrix.com" target="_blank">http://devrix.com</a><br>
> <a href="http://peshev.net/blog" target="_blank">http://peshev.net/blog</a><br>
><br>
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