[theme-reviewers] WordPress Theme Stores Violating GPL

[Chip Bennett]

ThemeForest Themes comply 100% with the GPL, as far as I know. However,
that doesn't mean that their Themes are 100% GPL.

Split licenses do not violate the GPL; they are 100% GPL-compatible. But
that does not mean that they are 100% GPL. Any resources under the
more-restrictive part of the split license are NOT GPL (otherwise, why
split the license?). This arrangement IS FINE for non-WPORG-hosted Themes,
but it is NOT FINE for WPORG-hosted Themes.

So, AwesomeThemes can distribute split-license Themes from their own site,
but any Themes they submit to the WPORG repository cannot be
split-licensed; they must be 100% GPL.

What AwesomeThemes CANNOT do, however, is distribute Themes under
non-GPL-compatible licenses, if they intend to have Themes hosted in the
WPORG repository.

Hopefully that clarifies things. :)

Chip

On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Robert Ambartsumov <robert6292 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Chip, are you saying a developer with a hosted theme on wp.org (100% gpl)
> can't create, say another theme and promote it on themeforest (which is not
> really a 100% gpl)?
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 11:59 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net>wrote:
>
>> The question isn't the matter of technical GPL inheritance, but rather of
>> Themes - and developers - adhering to stated WPORG policy regarding GPL
>> compatibility of hosted Themes, and of Themes distributed or promoted by
>> developers who have WPORG-hosted Themes. That is: it is not a matter of
>> legal GPL inheritance, but rather of adherence to WPORG policy for hosted
>> Themes.
>>
>> WPORG-hosted Themes are required to be 100% GPL-compatible (not
>> split-licensed). Developers who have WPORG-hosted Themes cannot distribute
>> or promote Themes with non-GPL-compatible licenses.
>>
>> Chip
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 3:12 PM, Rankin, Matthew W. (Student) <
>> mrankin at my.ccsu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>  I like the approach taken by ThemeForest. Any PHP code which contains
>>> WordPress functionality must be released under the GPL, but the
>>> CSS/HTML/Javascript and images used in the theme are copyrighted by the
>>> theme author. That being said, I don't think most premium theme stores are
>>> in violation of the GPL.
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> *From:* theme-reviewers-bounces at lists.wordpress.org [
>>> theme-reviewers-bounces at lists.wordpress.org] on behalf of Emil Uzelac [
>>> emil at themeid.com]
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 18, 2012 3:48 PM
>>> *To:* theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>> *Subject:* [theme-reviewers] WordPress Theme Stores Violating GPL
>>>
>>>   This afternoon I came across this post
>>> http://www.wpmods.com/wordpress-theme-stores-violating-gpl/ what do you
>>> guys thing?
>>>
>>>  P.S. Note that this is not site-specific issue, we need a general
>>> opinion only, try to isolate sites listed in the post.
>>>
>>>  Thanks,
>>> Emil
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
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