Quote:
Originally Posted by crockett
Not that I'm a cheap ass, but I never figured out how these companies get away with selling plug-ins or modules for WP. Isn't it against the GPL license to "only" offer it for sale with out also releasing it free for download?
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Let's take a step back and think that through.
To start with, we have copyright. WordPress, like any other software code of sufficient size to be considered a creative work, is protected by copyright. The author gains the copyright (right to copy) the moment they write the code down. That, under US law and international treaties, gives the author the right to control who gets to
make copies of the work.
The GPL, as many other software licenses, is a list of terms and conditions for
making copies, aka distributing the code. It starts (beyond the preamble), as follows, just to be clear:
"The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow."
So to be bound by these terms and conditions, you must be copying, distributing or modifying the work. In this case, that means copying, distributing or modifying WordPress. The copyright owner, the creators of WordPress, have no legal control over any activity in your life except making copies (by distributing) their code, as the copyright laws give them that control.
This is why WordPress themes and plugins can be sold. They don't distribute WordPress with their product, so they are not bound by whatever license the copyright holder chooses to use in exchange for giving up their sole right to make copies.
Sure they don't work without WordPress, precisely
because they don't include the WordPress code necessary to work. But making calls to add_action() or add_filter() no more makes a collection of functions a distribution of WordPress code as writing the names of a couple novelists in an essay makes that a distribution of those authors' books.
Fun exercise. You should've used an affiliate link, even I noticed the traffic coming from this thread today.