I listened to the interview over skype between matt and chris and I agree with Lynda above. Chris sounded like an arrogant twat and Matt sounded a lot wiser and calmer. Maybe Chris is feeling the undeserved power of ‘lots of money = must be right’ ??

I think that Matt is right though, you can release something under GPL and still make a profit from it by providing a walled garden support system and updates like Woothemes do.

I’ve seen the whole package of woothemes available for download for 15$ from someone who took advantage of the GPL’d nature of their themes but, when you try to get the latest version or fix a small issue on your ‘cheapo’ versions then you’re going to run into trouble because you can’t access the forums or download the latest update without having a username for their site.

So even though someone can make profit from your stuff if you GPL it, they’re not going to be able to do much with it as long as you keep improving and supporting your own software. They’ll eventually have to come and get the ‘full fat’ version and take advantage of free updates when WordPress inevitably updates it’s core code.

One thing to my advantage with regards to my own plans for a premium plugin is that it communicates with my server ala akismet so I wont have to GPL that part of the code!

I can see both sides of the disagreement, but I have to say, I think Matt’s line of reasoning is the better informed, the most public spirited and the one which has already and would continue to benefit the online community the most.

Chris way over-estimates the importance of Thesis to the WordPress community, and his position in that community. Somewhat speciously, he uses this inflated estimate of its worth to argue he should not be subject to a license that was in place long before he built Thesis and upon which he was entitled, in fact as a businessman, obliged, to read and understand before so doing .

I am also astonished at how rude, boorish and over-bearing Chris was in trying to dominate the debate, and had I known his views and understood the issues a little sooner, I would never have bought Thesis.

I wish I could keep my temper in check, as Matt did, but I know myself better than that. So I tried to think what I could do to help, instead of just getting mad, and this is what I decided.

Because of the overriding benefit to the online community, even though he will surely prevail; I don’t think Matt should have to put up his own money to fight a law case to prove the validity of the GPL which is, in effect, on our behalf.

Therefore, I think the GPL should be tested another way. If you have bought a version of Thesis from DIY Themes (Chris Pearson’s company), or from any other website, you can click this link now and join the “Thesis Class Action Suit” list at http://virtualcrowds.org/thesis-class-action, and let’s see just how many people agree with Chris, and how many with Matt and the GPL.

Merely calling a GPL function or file (via include() or require() functions) is stretching it and it would mean that darn near every piece of PHP software ever written and released would fall under some funky variation of the license. In a sense, calling a function or including a file is merely hooking into the software, but not actually developing work based on the software. (Note, this is merely my opinion–and only one of many–and IANAL.)

Also, ditto that it’s not breaking the law. There is no legal precedent. As of now, it’s just a software license, a contract between the people who create and distribute software.

Frankly, I’m in the camp who hopes it goes to court.

Of course, I could just take it all down and start charging people, but that goes against everything I believe in.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Technically though, they’re breaking the law.

Technically, no, that’s not true at all.

Number one, the GPL has never been tested in court in this context, and therefore is not the law. It’s just a license issued by one software developer (a form of implied contract) that some would like to see voluntarily honored by those who build other software that complements or improves the original software. Unless the GPL is proved to be legally enforceable in a specific context, no one can be forced anyone else to make their software GPL.

If the GPL is tested in court to see if its legally enforceable, it will be shot down in most cases (specifically with regard to premium WordPress themes, and especially full-blown software like Thesis), because it attempts to expand copyright law (specifically, the well-settled law related to what constitutes a derivative work) in a way that would never be acceptable intellectual property doctrine.

In short, it would be bad law that would have a ripple effect across copyright. No judge would do that, and there’s no legal precedent that would allow a judge to do that regardless.

This is why WordPress resorts to propaganda instead of lawsuits. When they lose the lawsuit, the GPL game is over.

Finally, this has nothing to do with using the software as a customer. Any legal haggling would be between the two software developers. There are no consequences whatsoever to people who have purchased the software.