Thesis is now under the GPL. That is, the PHP code that forms the bulk of the WordPress theme Thesis is now under the GPL, the same free software license as WordPress itself.
A week ago, I posted on the Thesis licensing controversy, closing with the wish that it wouldn’t go to court. Well, that wish was granted. I am “glad that Pearson saw fit to respect the GPL and that no blood was shed in the process” (to quote Jolie O’Dell, who has moved to Mashable from RWW).
Why should WordPress themes (not just Thesis) be GPL’d? WordPress core developer Mark Jaquith made a thorough argument that: Theme code necessarily derives from WordPress and thus must be licensed under the GPL if it is distributed. There’s lively discussion at Mark’s blog and at Reddit.
Hi Andrew, I’ve been following this issue for a while and it’s made me realise that I will be really bad lawyer — I don’t quite understand this. In laymen’s terms, once you purchase a license of Thesis, that you’re free to apply it to as many websites that you own?
Mar,
Take a look at the Thesis plans page:
http://diythemes.com/plans/
The personal option allows “Use of Thesis on one live website.” There is a more inclusive, and more expensive, developer option. Then there are the footnotes…
I can’t claim that this link will turn you into a good lawyer, but it might help!
Thanks for visiting, and for commenting.