[wp-hackers] Plugin Licensing

[Andy Charrington-Wilden]

As far as I know selling plugins and the gpl are not incompatible. You can still have a plugin or theme that is licensed under gpl and sell it. The worry of course is that people will simply buy it from you and sell it again. Which they are allowed to do under gpl. 

I agree with the ethos of the gpl but it does make it hard to make a living from it. 

Andy

Jealous Designs
Website: jealousdesigns.co.uk
Portfolio: jealousdesigns.co.uk/portfolio
Phone: 07903030008
Twitter: _a_n_d_y
Skype: andycharrington 

Sent from my iPhone

On 12 Mar 2011, at 11:17, "ErisDS (Hannah Wolfe)" <erisds at gmail.com> wrote:

> We talked about this in the latest episode of explicitweb (season 2 ep 4
> "Open web technologies) http://explicitweb.co.uk/
> 
> <http://explicitweb.co.uk/>I don't mean to deliberately plug, but there is a
> recorded lengthly discussion of licensing and dual licensing which includes
> John O'Nolan who is a core contributor to WordPress.
> 
> In summary, the people who make WordPress want you to use the GPL and state
> that all your work with WordPress is a derivative. It is also true that your
> own graphics/images/css, provided they are not copied from anywhere within
> WordPress arguably are not derivative and can be licensed separately.
> 
> John's solution is to use the GPL and add an extra clause for his CSS/images
> only which states that whilst you may redistribute etc as per the GPL you
> may not redistribute carbon copy. So you can make his stuff better (or
> worse) but you can't just rip him off.
> 
> Seemed like a good solution to me.
> 
> Hannah
> 
> P.S. In the above by "GPL" I mean GPL vs2+
> 
> On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 11:09 AM, Iain Cambridge <backie at backie.org> wrote:
> 
>> To be honest asking a bunch of developers about licensing isn't a smart
>> idea, while at the mention of licenses we all appear to become lawyers this
>> isn't the case. I personally disagree with WordPress.org statement that any
>> plugin is a derived from WordPress therefore falls under the GPL license
>> others agree whole heartly. If you're looking to sell Premium plugins and
>> are wondering what your options are licensing wise ask a copyright lawyer
>> or
>> just look at previous discussions.
>> 
>> Iain
>> 
>> On 12 March 2011 01:58, John 3:16 Media <wp at john316media.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Interesting.  Because I was looking at gravity forms and while the php
>> code
>>> is gpl, their images and css arent according to their terms page.  The
>>> plugin is a support ticket system.
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 5:27 PM, Blue Chives <info at bluechives.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi there,
>>>> 
>>>> We buy a range of premium plugins and themes, often to support the
>>> author.
>>>> However the one thing that will make us not use / buy is this
>>>> gpl/restricted license style.  Offer it for sale, but supply it as
>>>> completely gpl cf gravity forms or shopp or even release free cf
>>>> wp-ecommerce.
>>>> 
>>>> From the POV of earning from it have a hosted demo and offer the
>> product
>>>> for sale.
>>>> 
>>>> Ref your signature what does the plugin do?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> BTW Plugins that require ion cube or similar to run are always off the
>>>> shopping list.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 11 Mar 2011, at 23:00, "John 3:16 Media" <wp at john316media.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> I am looking to sell a couple of premium plugins and so I did some
>>>> research
>>>>> into some existing premium plugins.  I noticed that one plugin in
>>>> particular
>>>>> has the code licensed as GPL but the css and images seperatley
>> licensed
>>>> to
>>>>> restrict redistribution.  What are you thoughts on this method?
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> 
>>>>> Looking for users to test and provide feedback on new premium plugin
>>> here
>>>>> soon.  Will bribe anyone who helps with a generous discount on the
>>> final
>>>>> product.  Email me off-list if interested.
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