[theme-reviewers] Fwd: [gnu.org #859154] Possible Violation

[Bryan Hadaway]

Forwarded conversation
Subject: Possible Violation
------------------------

From: *Bryan Hadaway* <bhadaway at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 8:22 PM
To: license-violation at gnu.org


This would actually be a case of the developer abusing the rights of the
user instead the user abusing the rights of the developer. Not sure if
that's something you guys are interested in looking into?

Before I make a formal complaint here are the issues that are present for
the software that the developer claims to be 100% GPL:

1. There are 3 licensing options for how many sites you're allowed to use
the software on, 1, 6 or unlimited. It's always been my understanding that
you cannot restrict usage at all. That once the code is in the user's hands
they're free to use it on as many websites as they need, both for personal
and commercial sites.

2. There is no option to outright buy the software. You're forced into
monthly fees and if you stop payment at any time (meaning that you're
suppose to pay forever) the "pro" features of the software are crippled.
It's my understanding that a developer cannot put such restrictions in
place or force a user to pay for the same software more than once.

If my understanding of the GPL in these issues is correct and you would
like to discuss more, please let me know.

Thanks, Bryan

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From: *Donald R Robertson III via RT* <license-violation at fsf.org>
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 1:34 PM
To: bhadaway at gmail.com


Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to file this report. You can see full
instructions on what to do when you have a suspected violatoin at
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-violation.html>.
> [bhadaway at gmail.com - Wed Sep 25 22:22:43 2013]:
>
> This would actually be a case of the developer abusing the rights of the
> user instead the user abusing the rights of the developer. Not sure if
> that's something you guys are interested in looking into?
>
> Before I make a formal complaint here are the issues that are present for
> the software that the developer claims to be 100% GPL:
>
> 1. There are 3 licensing options for how many sites you're allowed to use
> the software on, 1, 6 or unlimited. It's always been my understanding that
> you cannot restrict usage at all. That once the code is in the user's
hands
> they're free to use it on as many websites as they need, both for personal
> and commercial sites.

That is correct, the user is free to install, copy, and share as much as
they like. Sometimes, however, companies offering service/support will
word their plans in such a way that it appears that you are limited,
when in fact, it is only that their service/support is limited to a
certain number of installs. For example, they could offer hosted GPLed
software and the limit is actually on the number of hosted instances.

>
> 2. There is no option to outright buy the software. You're forced into
> monthly fees and if you stop payment at any time (meaning that you're
> suppose to pay forever) the "pro" features of the software are crippled.
> It's my understanding that a developer cannot put such restrictions in
> place or force a user to pay for the same software more than once.

This is also correct, there cannot be any ongoing restriction such as
this. Again, however, sometimes companies can be misleading about what
is restricted. There can also be instances where there is GPLed software
involved, but also proprietary software which they can restrict.
Determining whether a violation is occurring requires looking at the
actual facts involved in the case.

With all that said, the GPL is a copyright license, and it is the
copyright holder who is empowered to enforce the terms of the license.
Sometimes companies will nominally release GPL software, but fail to
live up to its terms. As long as they are the sole copyright holder,
there is no one with the power to force them to change their wrongful
ways. There are other ways to gain compliance, however. Even if they
can't be forced by law to follow the terms, people can still send in
requests, publicly call them out for their bad practices, or even
campaign against them for being bad community members.

Thanks again for filing this report, and I hope this helps.
--
Sincerely,

Donald R. Robertson, III, J.D.
Copyright & Licensing Associate
Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02110, USA
Phone +1-617-542-5942
Fax +1-617-542-2652

---


----------
From: *Bryan Hadaway* <bhadaway at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 1:50 PM
To: license-violation at fsf.org


Thank you, I wanted to be sure. The issue is with a WordPress theme:

http://wordpress.org/themes/dms

Since this theme is hosted on WordPress it is scrutinized under WordPress
policy as well so in this instance it actually can be forcefully removed.

WordPress policy is that in order to accept a free theme version into its
repo, it's pro version, if one exists must also be 100% GPL, not part GPL,
part proprietary. The issues that break the GPL/WP policy are found here:

http://www.pagelines.com/pricing/

When the developer was asked about the site limitations, if it was just a
support limitation they clarified that no, it actually was a usage
restriction on the software itself outside of PageLines, they don't offer
hosting.

Thank you.
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