Can I use GPLv2 code of a FREE theme inside my theme?

Envato Authors Theme Authors
1

Today my item was soft-disabled by a DMCA takedown notice.

The reason is we’re using the Header Builder source code from this FREE theme https://wordpress.org/themes/customify/

The author (aka @wpcustomify.com ) complain that:

The Header Builder and Customizer Controls in the Moleez theme copy our product and need to be remove.

We can easy fork, contribute, distribute from those repo:

https://themes.svn.wordpress.org/customify/

https://github.com/PressMaximum/customify

As you can see it’s FREE and released under GPLv2 or later GNU General Public License v2.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation. So we have the FREEDOM to distribute copies of free software and have full right to use it for any theme.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software ( and charge for this service if you wish ), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

If you check this file https://themes.svn.wordpress.org/customify/0.2.4/style.css you will see the following statement:

Customify is based on Underscores http://underscores.me/, (C) 2012-2016 Automattic, Inc.
Underscores is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL v2 or later.

And if you check the readme.txt file from this repo https://github.com/PressMaximum/customify

You will see the following statement:

= Is Customify Free? = Yes! Customify is a free theme, and always will be.

My rights are protected by GPLv2 licensed GNU General Public License v2.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

Am I right?

Does he break GPLv2 license?

I look forward to receiving your advice.

Kind regards

2

It’s also 100% GPL as is stated at this page wpcustomify [.] com/terms-and-conditions :

The source code for our products is 100% GPL. Which in plain English means that you can do whatever you want with it, you own it and is for lifetime.

Just created a ticket and explain the situation that you don’t need any permission from the author and request activation of the theme

1 Like
3

Thanks so much for your advise.

I’ve also contacted the WordPress.org themereview team for asking about my right and they confirmed that I don’t need any permission from the author to distribute copies of their theme. FYI, please check this screenshot https://prnt.sc/lewcex

Your sincerely

4

This is just my opinion but in the future, if you ever choose to sell or distribute someone elses code, you must release it under the very same 100% GPL or else negotiate another license from the copyright owner.

It is clear that the copyright owner does not think you released your item on the same generous terms which is the main issue. This is why getting explicit permission is always the best approach.

You did burn that last bridge though by leaving a negative review on Wordpress[.org], too bad.

2 Likes
5

thanks Typps for your opinion. I much appreciate that.

First of all, I don’t want to leave a negative review on WordPress because that theme is really good. I appreciated it. However, I tried to contact the author via email for clearing and solving the issue, but he haven’t replied my email.

He release a FREE theme under GPLv2 license then he must agree with GPL license. But he deny my these rights. It means he break the GPL license and don’t care what it is.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

My rights are protected by GPLv2 licensed GNU General Public License v2.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation In this case I don’t need any permission from the author for using, modifying or distributing the specific components covered by the GPL

The following are some FAQs:

If I distribute GPL’d software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge? (#DoesTheGPLRequireAvailabilityToPublic)

No. However, if someone pays your fee and gets a copy, the GPL gives them the freedom to release it to the public, with or without a fee. For example, someone could pay your fee, and then put her copy on a web site for the general public.

If I know someone has a copy of a GPL-covered program, can I demand they give me a copy? (#CanIDemandACopy)

No. The GPL gives a person permission to make and redistribute copies of the program if and when that person chooses to do so . That person also has the right not to choose to redistribute the program.

Why does the GPL permit users to publish their modified versions? (#WhyDoesTheGPLPermitUsersToPublishTheirModifiedVersions)

A crucial aspect of free software is that users are free to cooperate. It is absolutely essential to permit users who wish to help each other to share their bug fixes and improvements with other users.

Some have proposed alternatives to the GPL that require modified versions to go through the original author. As long as the original author keeps up with the need for maintenance, this may work well in practice, but if the author stops (more or less) to do something else or does not attend to all the users’ needs, this scheme falls down. Aside from the practical problems, this scheme does not allow users to help each other.

Sometimes control over modified versions is proposed as a means of preventing confusion between various versions made by users. In our experience, this confusion is not a major problem. Many versions of Emacs have been made outside the GNU Project, but users can tell them apart. The GPL requires the maker of a version to place his or her name on it, to distinguish it from other versions and to protect the reputations of other maintainers.

Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public? (#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic)

The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.

But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program’s users, under the GPL.

Thus, the GPL gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways; but the decision of whether to release it is up to you.

6

Hi you guys,

Today my item just approved after 17 days we sent the “put back” notice to the complainant (Customify’s theme author)

However, when waiting the item reinstate, we’ve removed all of their source code, rebuilt everything. It took a lot of time of us. And of course, we lost too much money because this accident.

Please beware if you’re using the source code from the [removed by mod - please don’t call out items or users - https://forums.envato.com/tos ]
Kind regards