All the latest news and announcements, straight from the WooThemes HQ!
WooThemes GPL’ed
17. Jun, 2009 by Adii Rockstar in WooThemes News
Along with the launch of WOO2, we’re also proud to announce that we’ll be officially embracing the General Public License (GPL) on all of our themes going forward. How did this happen? Here’s the story…
The Story
So back in August last year, I met up with Matt Mullenweg (WordPress founder) at WordCamp South Africa and we had a good chat about what we were doing at WooThemes. At that stage, the GPL issue was still highly contentious with a lot of contradicting opinions on whether themes needs to be GPL or not. But anyway (that’s not important), I told Matt one thing and that was that Magnus, Mark & myself have always believed that we were contributing a helluva lot to the core WordPress project and that licensing our themes with the GPL was always on the horizon. That statement did however come with a provision that we’ll do it when we feel comfortable making that decision.
Fast forward to February of this year, when the whole WooTeam sat down and discussed where we’d like to go with the future of WooThemes. It was there that the whole re-design (WOO2) was conceptualized and along with that decision we decided to license our themes under the GPL. We have therefore had to keep this incredibly exciting news secret for almost 4 months now, but we’re very happy that it is finally here and that we can announce this to the world.
Why did we do this?
I don’t think it’s necessary to give you a long-winded list of reasons here. There’s only one reason we did this and that’s because we love WordPress, we’ve always believed that we were contributing to the project and that we wanted to move closer to the heart & soul of the project. Simple. 
So what does this mean?
- The only thing that really changes, is that there’s no more restrictions on a Standard / Single and Developer License i.e. you can use these themes on unlimited domains irrespective of the package you choose (view a comparison of the different packages here).
- The themes aren’t free and you still need to buy them! (i.e. there’s no hidden download link somewhere)
Existing User?
If you previously purchased any subscription or a Developer License, then nothing changes. But if you purchased a Single License, you now get the added benefit of using those themes on as many domains as you want. So the new GPL licensing doesn’t change anything with regards to your rights or experiences with those themes.
We really hope that everyone will support us in this move and that you will get excited with us about what the future holds not only for us at WooThemes, but also the WordPress project as a whole.
17 June 2009 at 8:35 am #
HEY! This is seriously really great news
First iThemes now you guys!
I hope Elegant Themes jump on board next.
17 June 2009 at 8:44 am #
Technically we didn’t jump on board…
As mentioned in the post; this has been in the works for quite some time now and we’ve just been very, very quiet about it.
17 June 2009 at 8:46 am #
Still… we jumped aboard the GPL bandwagon
17 June 2009 at 8:50 am #
Way to go! And the only right way to go. It’s good to see you guys are GPL’ed too now.
17 June 2009 at 8:59 am #
This is a forward-thinking move that demonstrates yet again why you guys are leading the pack when it comes to WP themes. Keep up the great work!
17 June 2009 at 9:07 am #
I can’t believe so many good news in just one day, so maybe i’m dreaming.
17 June 2009 at 9:10 am #
Awesome work on the new site and kudo’s for going GPL.
17 June 2009 at 9:39 am #
Cool..
What comes around goes around. Good karma will come back to WooThemes.
I blogged about WooThemes going GPL
Time for me to order some themes!!!!
17 June 2009 at 9:54 am #
Yes, yes and yes.
A blog post and a purchase?
That’s how we roll around here!
17 June 2009 at 11:12 am #
that’s reallyyy aweseome… awesome… great news…
17 June 2009 at 11:55 am #
Well done guys, really good job and I must say its a HUGE improvement on the original. Marc and I are digging it
The new pricing structure is also an interesting update and I think it’s a huge positive.
17 June 2009 at 11:57 am #
Does this mean you’ll be buying some themes as well?
17 June 2009 at 12:46 pm #
We already encourage our clients to make the purchase
17 June 2009 at 12:01 pm #
Which GPL license are these themes available under, GPL v2 (like WordPress) or GPL v3?
17 June 2009 at 12:02 pm #
What’s the difference?
But I’d guess we’d stick to V2, which is the same as WP uses. Is there any benefit of adopting V3 instead?
17 June 2009 at 12:07 pm #
Great news !
17 June 2009 at 12:08 pm #
“(i.e. there’s no hidden download link somewhere)”
lmfao! awesome
17 June 2009 at 12:35 pm #
Did that mean, that I can use my Busy Bee Theme (which I purchased a couple of month ago with a Standard Licence) now on many sites as I want, not only on one? Or is it only possible for future purchases or future themes?
17 June 2009 at 12:45 pm #
Nope, if you have a Single License with us, then you can now use Busy Bee on as many sites as you wish!
17 June 2009 at 12:46 pm #
Wow! That are really great news!!!! Thank you! I love your work!! In that moment I am thinking of purchasing more themes
17 June 2009 at 12:47 pm #
You should consider buying more themes in the next week then and get them on the 4-for-1 special!
17 June 2009 at 12:50 pm #
Yeah I know… That’s the reason why I am thinking of it
17 June 2009 at 2:22 pm #
Proud of you guys – you’ve done the right thing.
17 June 2009 at 2:47 pm #
Wow woo, this is pretty amazing and combined with the 4 for 1 offer it’s unreal value.
17 June 2009 at 4:37 pm #
GREAT! I’m a great fan of your themes, this is a great step!
17 June 2009 at 6:27 pm #
Is there a chance for an internalisation of your themes ? When you are a beginner in WordPress and PHP, it’s not easy to translate a theme without .Po and .MO files.
18 June 2009 at 12:20 am #
This is something we’ve been discussing for a while now and we may include this in future (at least for a select handful of themes). But at the moment our themes don’t support localization.
17 June 2009 at 9:38 pm #
Congrats to all of you here at Woo themes, welcome to the GPL family. Great to see you finally make the switch!
18 June 2009 at 12:21 am #
Thanks Brian!
18 June 2009 at 6:23 am #
Great work guys, love the direction you are headed.
Also like the Affiliate concept and we will be doing our best to make some converts of our small band of listeners at marketinggeek.tv podcast.
18 June 2009 at 7:35 am #
Sounds awesome; thanks for backing us and we hope those affiliate commissions prove worthwhile!
18 June 2009 at 12:54 pm #
Great news !
18 June 2009 at 10:47 pm #
Thanks for the good news. Good luck with this new venture. Represent!
22 June 2009 at 8:47 am #
Awesome! Great news! I love WooThemes and I think now I love you even more!
22 June 2009 at 4:02 pm #
Wow, Thanks for sharing the great news. One of the most exciting emails I opened up in a while. Keep up the great work Woo Team!
25 June 2009 at 10:34 am #
I think this is a really laudable move from Woo Themes, and the right thing to do since technically all Wordpress themes and addons should be GPL.
Small question though. What reason do I now have for purchasing your themes when I can simply download them or get a copy from a friend?
Ok, I personally wouldn’t do that, I’m playing devil’s advocate, but the point stands.
25 June 2009 at 10:54 am #
Beyond doing the right thing (i.e. supporting premium theme developers so that they can continue to innovate and create top-notch WP themes), you’re also buying into a community and gaining access to support resources. I think those are the only reasons you’d pay for the theme.
25 June 2009 at 11:09 am #
Ah by “doing the right thing” you mean supporting developers who willfully ignored the terms of the GPL when it suited them, but who now embrace it because they sense the wind is changing.
People will always be willing to pay for community and support services for open source products – especially if it’s good support (and I hear yours is)!
This is a move in the right direction but there is a little misdirection taking place. We should not forget it was the theme developers who were in the wrong in the first place.
25 June 2009 at 11:52 am #
This is not playing devil’s advocate anymore, instead it’s a bit of a well-placed jab…
I don’t think we’ve gone from being wrong to now being in the right. Months ago we wanted to dual-license our themes (code = GPL; everything else = copyright), which would’ve allowed us to keep the restrictions in place, but Matt specifically called it “packaging gymnastics” and we didn’t make the move. After months though, Matt has admitted (publicly) that this approach is 100% legal, even though neither he or WP will support that.
So imo this is a purely positive move and it’s not about correcting a supposed previous wrong, because I don’t think that we were ever wrong. Instead I think theme developers were caught in a shitstorm & grey area; so it was always gonna take time for the community to figure everything out.
25 June 2009 at 1:05 pm #
I don’t want to come across as anti-Woo because, as I said privately, I’m not. Quite the opposite in fact.
That said, the GPL is a fairly straightforward document based on very straightforward ideas, which is why incidently you don’t need to be a lawyer to understand or have an opinion on it.
One of those ideas can be paraphrased thus; if you modify or extend this work and then distribute your modified/extended version then be sure to give the people you distribute it to the same rights and privileges you enjoyed.
This simply is not adhered to with non-GPL themes and plugins and I think it should be. I don’t see it as a grey area, but you are right many, many people did and still do despite there being good guidance available (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins).
25 June 2009 at 1:22 pm #
I hear and I don’t want to turn this into a “what inherits the GPL”-post, since we’re past that point. But whilst the GPL covers the code; images & CSS have never inherited the GPL, which is why I said so in the previous comment.
No offense taken though. I’m just challenging your opinion / comments.
25 June 2009 at 12:29 pm #
Greed, ego, and lack of respect has powered alot of the paid theme nonsense. Yet, quality work should – and does – command a price other than “free”.
At the very least, all paid theme designers should share part of their profits with select plugin developers AND contribute to the development of each WP branch.
For example, look at how many paid themes use a Flickrrss plugin as part of their demo test site! You can’t say the Flickrss developer doesn’t deserve a small profit if a site has 20+ paid themes – and all the themes include some form of Flickrss as part of the theme demo.
Or do we want paid plugins too?
25 June 2009 at 12:35 pm #
In case of counter points, I’m pro paid themes; but themers need to share the wealth and take responsiblity for updating/testing the current WP code branch.
25 June 2009 at 12:54 pm #
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind paying for great, paid plugins. If they’re premium in functionality and they’re worth something to me, then why not pay for it?
29 June 2009 at 9:39 pm #
“The themes aren’t free and you still need to buy them! (i.e. there’s no hidden download link somewhere)”
I was looking for some great GPL WP or joomla themes I could convert into drupal. And I found the links to download your themes somewhere in a forum (I couldn’t mention it here, sorry). I have asked the poster if they are GPL’ed and okay for conversion, but not an answer this far. So some guys out there had made your themes free illegitimately. I do respect copyrighted materials (paid themes) above the scary karma, that’s why I didn’t even dare to touch the download links even they were there for free. Your statement that they aren’t free had even convinced me that the links should be illegitimate. Hope they stop what they did. Sorry for the bad news I brought here.
30 June 2009 at 2:36 am #
Thanks for being honest; not many internet users are… Unfortunately piracy is a big part of what happens on the internet and I doubt that we will ever get rid of it.