4 ms·

Wow, the amount of ignorance displayed here is significant. It's painful just listening to it, and the blatant double think -- I'm protecting my rights by disre

Wow, the amount of ignorance displayed here is significant. It's painful just listening to it, and the blatant double think -- I'm protecting my rights by disregarding your rights...

dantheman 16y ago
He seems to not understand the difference between lgpl and the gpl.
- rick888 16y ago
  "He seems to not understand the difference between lgpl and the gpl." If calling a function from a GPL project or having css/html that interact with a GPL project means that your project needs to also be open sourced, this should be a wakeup call to all businesses to not get anywhere near the license.
  - icey 16y ago
    WordPress' position on what parts must be GPLed is quite clear, and explicitly excludes CSS and media. The PHP portions of the themes are the parts they argue must be GPLed.
    - rick888 16y ago
      "WordPress' position on what parts must be GPLed is quite clear, and explicitly excludes CSS and media. The PHP portions of the themes are the parts they argue must be GPLed." If the portions he used only contain function calls, I wouldn't consider it derivative work.
      - icey 16y ago
        The Southern Freedom Law Network does consider that derivative: http://wordpress.org/news/2009/07/themes-are-gpl-too/ http://wordpress.org/news/2009/07/themes-are-gpl-too/ (I linked this in my other reply to you as well. Sorry for the repetition, but I think it was worth mentioning in both places.)
        rick888 16y ago
        "(I linked this in my other reply to you as well. Sorry for the repetition, but I think it was worth mentioning in both places.)" Well, the RIAA considers copyright infringement "theft". It doesn't make either of these true.
- rick888 16y ago
  If calling a function from a GPL project or having css/html that interact with a GPL project means that your project needs to also be open sourced, this should be a wakeup call to all businesses to not get anywhere near the license.
dantheman 16y ago
Hopefully they just sue him to so that he learns the value of a contract.
- slantyyz 16y ago
  Was there a contract? The murky legal problem with the GPL and other free software licenses is that there isn't any consideration (no exchange of money), or proof of offer and acceptance. It's a lot easier to prove with paid software and the clicking of a checkbox. IANAL, but it would be interesting to know if there's any legal precedents for the enforceability of free/gpl/open source licenses.
  - Otto42 16y ago
    The GPL has been upheld as a perfectly valid and enforceable license on many occasions. However, in all those cases, this happened via initial injunctions or the like, not in an actual final case itself. Basically, once the license was ruled valid by the judge, it becomes very clear that one side had no case and thus they settled to avoid a protracted suit. The GPL is well-tested in that respect.
    - slantyyz 16y ago
      I guess the problem, especially in the US, is that no case has gone to judgment. It also doesn't help that certain states show certain biases in interpretation. Notice that a lot of patent cases go to Texas? My presumption on some of the cases where the GPL has been most successful without going to judgement is that those have been the ones where there is the clearest infringement (i.e., Linksys 'borrowing code' for their routers, etc), i.e., direct copies or only slightly modified versions of the original source. If it gets far enough, I think it will come down to a layperson's (judge or jury) interpretation (based on lawyer and witness arguments) on whether a theme is like reselling a modified car (i.e., Ruf Turbo - a modified Porsche), or an aftermarket car stereo (i.e., one that reverse engineered an automaker's proprietary connector). Yes, code is intangible, unlike a car, and there are places where my overly simplistic analogy breaks apart, but it's not unheard of to look at it in this manner. A federal judge recently compared mp3 torrent sharing to playing music in a business - not that similar, but in the grand scheme of things, you can see some parallels.

Wow, the amount of ignorance displayed here is significant. It's painful just listening to it, and the blatant double think -- I'm protecting my rights by disregarding your rights...

dantheman 16y ago

He seems to not understand the difference between lgpl and the gpl.

rick888 16y ago
"He seems to not understand the difference between lgpl and the gpl." If calling a function from a GPL project or having css/html that interact with a GPL project means that your project needs to also be open sourced, this should be a wakeup call to all businesses to not get anywhere near the license.
- icey 16y ago
  WordPress' position on what parts must be GPLed is quite clear, and explicitly excludes CSS and media. The PHP portions of the themes are the parts they argue must be GPLed.
  - rick888 16y ago
    "WordPress' position on what parts must be GPLed is quite clear, and explicitly excludes CSS and media. The PHP portions of the themes are the parts they argue must be GPLed." If the portions he used only contain function calls, I wouldn't consider it derivative work.
    - icey 16y ago
      The Southern Freedom Law Network does consider that derivative: http://wordpress.org/news/2009/07/themes-are-gpl-too/ http://wordpress.org/news/2009/07/themes-are-gpl-too/ (I linked this in my other reply to you as well. Sorry for the repetition, but I think it was worth mentioning in both places.)
      - rick888 16y ago
        "(I linked this in my other reply to you as well. Sorry for the repetition, but I think it was worth mentioning in both places.)" Well, the RIAA considers copyright infringement "theft". It doesn't make either of these true.
rick888 16y ago
If calling a function from a GPL project or having css/html that interact with a GPL project means that your project needs to also be open sourced, this should be a wakeup call to all businesses to not get anywhere near the license.

dantheman 16y ago

Hopefully they just sue him to so that he learns the value of a contract.

slantyyz 16y ago
Was there a contract? The murky legal problem with the GPL and other free software licenses is that there isn't any consideration (no exchange of money), or proof of offer and acceptance. It's a lot easier to prove with paid software and the clicking of a checkbox. IANAL, but it would be interesting to know if there's any legal precedents for the enforceability of free/gpl/open source licenses.
- Otto42 16y ago
  The GPL has been upheld as a perfectly valid and enforceable license on many occasions. However, in all those cases, this happened via initial injunctions or the like, not in an actual final case itself. Basically, once the license was ruled valid by the judge, it becomes very clear that one side had no case and thus they settled to avoid a protracted suit. The GPL is well-tested in that respect.
  - slantyyz 16y ago
    I guess the problem, especially in the US, is that no case has gone to judgment. It also doesn't help that certain states show certain biases in interpretation. Notice that a lot of patent cases go to Texas? My presumption on some of the cases where the GPL has been most successful without going to judgement is that those have been the ones where there is the clearest infringement (i.e., Linksys 'borrowing code' for their routers, etc), i.e., direct copies or only slightly modified versions of the original source. If it gets far enough, I think it will come down to a layperson's (judge or jury) interpretation (based on lawyer and witness arguments) on whether a theme is like reselling a modified car (i.e., Ruf Turbo - a modified Porsche), or an aftermarket car stereo (i.e., one that reverse engineered an automaker's proprietary connector). Yes, code is intangible, unlike a car, and there are places where my overly simplistic analogy breaks apart, but it's not unheard of to look at it in this manner. A federal judge recently compared mp3 torrent sharing to playing music in a business - not that similar, but in the grand scheme of things, you can see some parallels.