Licensing – when is ‘derivative work’ considered

  • koala807

    (@koala807)


    3 years ago

    Hello,

    I want to use Ixion theme as my base website’s theme. I needed to do few (like 4) minor adjustments (font size, margin size, removing a divider/section) in theme’s code, so I created a new child theme. These changes are not significant however (as in the meaning of creating new theme based on Ixion). I do not want to redistribute so customised theme or sell it as itself – it is to be used in the website I am preparing for a third party, so I would say that it will be a part of my service as “creating a website”.

    My question is: if in terms of GNU GPL v.2 (or later) (as Ixion is licensed under this one) should I treat it as a ‘new derivative work’ and take care of redistributing source code licensed under same GNU GPL v.2 along the website? Or should my client do so? Or else, I can skip this as this does not qualify.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • jerrysarcastic

    (@jerrysarcastic)

    Hi there,

    This is not exactly a question that is specific to this theme, but one that applies to any child theme where the parent is distributed via a GPL license.

    That is to say that we’re not exactly experts on how to answer this question, but I think this bit of guidance I found will help:

    If you have no plans to distribute your theme then you do not need to adopt the GPL license for your work. The GPL only applies to distributed software. If you are not distributing your software – for example, a theme used only by yourself or on your local machine – you do not need to adopt the GPL.

    See: https://developer.www.ads-software.com/themes/getting-started/wordpress-licensing-the-gpl/#do-i-need-to-license-my-themes-under-the-gpl

    Since you mention no plan to distribute this child theme (which is intended for exclusive use by your client from the sound of it) it appears that you do not need to worry about licensing in this case.

    Hope this helps!

    Thread Starter koala807

    (@koala807)

    Hi, thank you for fast reply.
    Yes, I believe it helps.
    Theme is going to be used only by client on his website (which would be public on the Internet, but theme will not be redistributed to be used somewhere else).

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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