GPL and commercial themes/plugins

  • jivyb

    (@jivyb)


    13 years, 8 months ago

    I’m hoping you can clear something up for me. On this page (http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/commercial/) listing the GPL commercial themes, it says “GPL doesn’t say that everything must be zero-cost, just that when you receive the software or theme that it not restrict your freedoms in how you use it.”

    SO, that means you can redistribute and change their code however you want, which = freedom.

    What I’m confused about is that the people listed on that page as having licensed their code as GPL are restricting use. Let’s take Crowd Favorite, for example. If you go to their site, it’s $400 for a developer’s license which is clearly labeled as “single site”. How can they be listed at wordpress.org as GPL and only give out a single site license? GPL clearly says they can’t build their code around WP and then not pass on the WP GPL license.

    Am I missing something? If I paid crowdfavorite for the developer’s license would they come after me if I followed the GPL instead of their own license (and used their code on multiple sites)? And how come wordpress.org says they’re GPL?

    If I started a free site that redistributed all the GPL themes/plugins people are charging for, I would be well within my rights, but how come no one does this?

    I’m really trying to understand, so please be civil in your responses…

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  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Volunteer Moderator

    13 years, 5 months ago

    Just to clarify, I don’t agree with any “faux legal threats,” but I do agree with the multi-install pricing structure that many theme authors have adopted. It’s a good way to request money equivalent to the use of the theme.

    For example, I could charge $100 for a single install and strongly request that you pay $300 for an unlimited install.

    Or, I could just split the difference and charge $200 for just an unlimited install and not offer a single install option.

    As a consumer seeking to install the theme on one blog, which would you rather see? $100 for a single install with an unlimited available for $300, or just the unlimited available for $200?

Viewing 16 replies (of 16 total)
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