One article that discusses the dispute is titled Software Combinations as Derivative Works under Copyright Law and GPL.
On the other hand, Lawrence Rosen, formerly legal counsel of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) takes a more reserved approach ("Dynamic linking… is a transitory relationship between two programs for which they are each pre-designed… Such linkage does not constitute the creation of a derivative work".
Mullenweg wix wordpress free#
For example, Richard Stallman, the father-figure of Free Software and the drafter of the first GPLs, advocates a very wide interpretation of the license's provisions. Prominent figures in the Free Software community may disagree.
Mullenweg wix wordpress code#
For instance, does dynamically linking proprietary code with a GPL’d component result in an overall program that is considered to be “based on the GPL’d component”? The answer depends on whom you ask. So how far into the code can the GPL reach? What constitutes code that is based on a GPL component is highly debatable. One of the primary and often onerous requirements of the GPL, is that any software that is based on the GPL’d component - "that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications" - must be distributed under the GPL. If the original GPL’d program is modified, the developer must make her modification available to third parties. When one redistributes a GPL’d program, the GPL requires to make the program’s source code available to third parties. Does that make the whole App subject to the General Public License? WordPress is licensed under GPL v. So it seems that it all boils down to this: Wix included a WordPress library within its App.
Kol also points out that the WordPress GPL Rich Text component is actually, in itself, a wrapper around another Rich Text component which is licensed under MIT. According to Kol, they made sure to give proper credit to WordPress. Since WordPress' open source Rich Text component does not support React Native, Wix wrapped it and released its source code on GitHub. Wix was looking for a mobile-optimized Rich Text component. Tal Kol, an engineer in the Wix mobile app team, provided additional information: Wix App was developed with React Native (a framework for building mobile apps using only JavaScript). He further promised that "we will release the app you saw as well". Abrahami stated that Wix already published 224 open source projects and contributed numerous bug fixed to other projects. Wix CEO, Avishai Abrahami, admitted using the WordPress open source library "for a minor part of the application (that is the concept of open source right?)" and emphasized that Wix published back the open source repository on GitHub everything they improved or modified. In a heated discussion with Wix's CEO, Mullenweg asserted that "it doesn’t matter if it’s 30 lines or 30 million lines: because it includes GPL code and you distributed the app, the entire thing needs to be GPL." Mullenweg contends that it is based on the WordPress mobile app’s editor. It is the Wix App’s Rich Text Editor that sparked the turmoil. The app includes various functionalities ranging from managing a Wix online store to letting one edit her Wix blog posts. It lets users manage their websites and Wix operating systems from their mobile devices. On Friday, October 28, WordPress’s co-creator Matt Mullenweg accused Wix of a "blatant rip-off and code theft". Reading carefully through the posts of both companies, it seems that they may strike on a fundamental dispute within the Free Software community and legal professionals counseling on Open Source Software: just how deep does the GPL’s so-called "viral effect" go? The open source community is engaged in a heated dispute between Automatic (the company behind WordPress) and Wix, two of the most prominent developers of content management systems.
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