Comments on: Thesis and the GPL http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/ WordPress Core Developer Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:12:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4-alpha By: Thesis and the GPL | Andrew Nacin at The WordPress GPL Debate http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1291 Thesis and the GPL | Andrew Nacin at The WordPress GPL Debate Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:16:06 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1291 [...] View the original article: Thesis and the GPL | Andrew Nacin [...] [...] View the original article: Thesis and the GPL | Andrew Nacin [...]

]]> By: Lawsuit Averted As WordPress and Thesis Settle Differences Over Themes And The GPL | It's... just a dot http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1133 Lawsuit Averted As WordPress and Thesis Settle Differences Over Themes And The GPL | It's... just a dot Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:23:49 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1133 [...] and CSS are not. Pearson disagreed, relying on some pretty novel legal arguments, but those were countered by others in the community. Mullenweg began to put more social and business pressure on Pearson, [...] [...] and CSS are not. Pearson disagreed, relying on some pretty novel legal arguments, but those were countered by others in the community. Mullenweg began to put more social and business pressure on Pearson, [...]

]]> By: Lawsuit Averted As WordPress and Thesis Settle Differences Over Themes And The GPL | Technology News and Information for Geeks http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1132 Lawsuit Averted As WordPress and Thesis Settle Differences Over Themes And The GPL | Technology News and Information for Geeks Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:15:31 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1132 [...] and CSS are not. Pearson disagreed, relying on some pretty novel legal arguments, but those were countered by others in the community. Mullenweg began to put more social and business pressure on Pearson, [...] [...] and CSS are not. Pearson disagreed, relying on some pretty novel legal arguments, but those were countered by others in the community. Mullenweg began to put more social and business pressure on Pearson, [...]

]]> By: Wordpress requires themes to be GPL « MMN-o http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1053 Wordpress requires themes to be GPL « MMN-o Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:53:41 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1053 [...] and Thesis have actually copied large pieces of code from [...] [...] and Thesis have actually copied large pieces of code from [...]

]]> By: Martin http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1043 Martin Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:00:44 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1043 I believe you used it correctly. It's relevance in practice is just limited. Copyright only protects you from copying, not from others be inspired by your work to create their own. So as long as you do not outright copy the code it will not have violated the copyright (this might vary among jurisdictions, but the principle is valid). What clean room does do, if done correctly, is protect you from 1) allegations of copyright infringement if you independently write the same code as the original and 2) allegations of infringement of trade secrets. The odds against 1) happening appears to be slim in most cases, but if it is a real concern and trade secrets are also a concern a clean room approach might be relevant. So a more nuanced answer might be "Yes, a clean room approach isn't necessary, but might under certain circumstances be relevant." My remark about patents was wrong and meant to address trade secrets. I should have deleted it prior to posting but pressed send too early. I believe you used it correctly. It’s relevance in practice is just limited. Copyright only protects you from copying, not from others be inspired by your work to create their own. So as long as you do not outright copy the code it will not have violated the copyright (this might vary among jurisdictions, but the principle is valid). What clean room does do, if done correctly, is protect you from 1) allegations of copyright infringement if you independently write the same code as the original and 2) allegations of infringement of trade secrets. The odds against 1) happening appears to be slim in most cases, but if it is a real concern and trade secrets are also a concern a clean room approach might be relevant.

So a more nuanced answer might be “Yes, a clean room approach isn’t necessary, but might under certain circumstances be relevant.”

My remark about patents was wrong and meant to address trade secrets. I should have deleted it prior to posting but pressed send too early.

]]> By: Paige Jeffrey http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1037 Paige Jeffrey Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:50:12 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1037 You're happy to welcome him, but only if he debases himself? Not that I agree with his original comment, or this whole blown up cat-fight, but seriously - if you're going to encourage someone to just play nice, you need to be willing to play nice too. I really do agree with Keith. I haven't been following this whole debate as religiously as others, but even I've noticed that it's gotten past a simple debate or disagreement into a full blown attack on each side. It's going to be a third party that resolves this, unless someone is willing to swallow their pride. (For anyone that follows through to my website - yeap, I'm a Thesis user. I only found out about this whole GPL thing recently. And I don't think I need to pick sides until one side wins and we can get back to our daily internet time-wasting.) You’re happy to welcome him, but only if he debases himself? Not that I agree with his original comment, or this whole blown up cat-fight, but seriously – if you’re going to encourage someone to just play nice, you need to be willing to play nice too.

I really do agree with Keith. I haven’t been following this whole debate as religiously as others, but even I’ve noticed that it’s gotten past a simple debate or disagreement into a full blown attack on each side. It’s going to be a third party that resolves this, unless someone is willing to swallow their pride.

(For anyone that follows through to my website – yeap, I’m a Thesis user. I only found out about this whole GPL thing recently. And I don’t think I need to pick sides until one side wins and we can get back to our daily internet time-wasting.)

]]> By: Mike Schinkel http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1031 Mike Schinkel Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:43:57 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1031 I'd love to see some specific links to that SharpDevelop/MonoDevelop debate. After a quick Google I didn't find anything relevant. I’d love to see some specific links to that SharpDevelop/MonoDevelop debate. After a quick Google I didn’t find anything relevant.

]]> By: Mark http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1030 Mark Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:27:29 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1030 <em>If Thesis incorporated WordPress code that is licensed under the GPL, it is clearly a derived work violating the GPL by not in turn being licensed GPL.</em> That's absolutely not true. I'm not going to go into details, but I advise researching the SharpDevelop/MonoDevelop debate along these lines from several years ago. The bottom line is that although some would consider the entire work GPL, it's not true that unique contributions at the file scope have to be GPL. If Thesis incorporated WordPress code that is licensed under the GPL, it is clearly a derived work violating the GPL by not in turn being licensed GPL.

That’s absolutely not true. I’m not going to go into details, but I advise researching the SharpDevelop/MonoDevelop debate along these lines from several years ago.

The bottom line is that although some would consider the entire work GPL, it’s not true that unique contributions at the file scope have to be GPL.

]]> By: My Thoughts on the WordPress/Thesis Debate | PlagiarismToday http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1027 My Thoughts on the WordPress/Thesis Debate | PlagiarismToday Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:24:22 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1027 [...] Furthermore, there may be a fair use issue involved in the creation of premium themes and a special code-copying problem for Thesis specifically to further muddy the waters.What is clear is that the issue as to whether or not Thesis, or any [...] [...] Furthermore, there may be a fair use issue involved in the creation of premium themes and a special code-copying problem for Thesis specifically to further muddy the waters.What is clear is that the issue as to whether or not Thesis, or any [...]

]]> By: WordPress, Thesis, et la licence GPL | WordPress Francophone http://nacin.com/2010/07/15/thesis-gpl/#comment-1022 WordPress, Thesis, et la licence GPL | WordPress Francophone Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:42:01 +0000 http://www.andrewnacin.com/?p=403#comment-1022 [...] Nacin (freelance, core dev de WP) écrit qu’il a trouvé son propre code de celui de Thesis. Idem pour Alex Mills (membre [...] [...] Nacin (freelance, core dev de WP) écrit qu’il a trouvé son propre code de celui de Thesis. Idem pour Alex Mills (membre [...]

]]>