Plugin is GPL and some images are NOT GPL

Please contact [email protected]

O.K. i will do. Thanks…

That’s a great question.

Based on what there is out there, I’m going to say yes.

These three popular plugins all include logos and/or mascots which are not licensed under the GPL:

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/jetpack/

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/wordpress-seo/

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/easy-digital-downloads/

Probably best to contact plugins (at) wordpress (dot) org just to be sure.

So my Question: is this allowed? can i say, the plugin is GPL but these two images are NOT…?

No.

For your plugin to be hosted on .org, everything within the plugin files must be 100% GPL compatible.

In addition, you cannot ‘phone home’ to load the images off of your own server.

However, the logo can be trademarked, yes?

i reopen this Topic because there are many open questions i think…

short: i think you can NOT trademark a logo.

long: you CAN trademark a logo (i have some of them) but if you do this you have to select in which countries you will do this. i – for example – have trademarks in germany and EU.

If i now put one of these logo in a GPL Plugin does this mean that in any other country (outside the EU) everybody can use this logo as he likes.

And INSIDE EU you have two license – one says “do what you want” and the other says “this is protected”.

I think TWO licenses means THE USER who has the file CAN SELECT which one of this licenses fits his need. and he then will use the GPL and you logo is gone away….

AND… To make it more horrible, everybody who has a premium WordPress Plugins (for example for 100$ a year) can “sell” it to everywhere he likes for 20$ a year. This is NOT illegal.

He can also offer payed support for “his” Plugin and he also can remove the Logo of the other person and put his own logo at this place. Means he can change the plugin that it looks like his…

To make it clear: I DONT WANT TO DO THIS… i only say it is possible. And i don’t say, the GPL is a bad thing… i am not against the GPL

I am likely going to regret replying to this™ topic. ??

short: i think you can NOT trademark a logo.

Of course you can. Trademarking something doesn’t mean others can’t use, distribute it or modify it. You can still do those things and still trademark something and keep it all GPL’ed.

https://wptavern.com/the-gpl-license-doesnt-provide-the-freedom-to-infringe-registered-trademarks

Now if someone is using a logo in a plugin here in the WordPress™ repo and they attempted use that trademark to restrict the freedom of the GPL then that of course would not be permitted. The plugin author would have to make an adjustment, pull their plugin or have it pulled by the plugins team.

AND… To make it more horrible, everybody who has a premium WordPress Plugins (for example for 100$ a year) can “sell” it to everywhere he likes for 20$ a year. This is NOT illegal.

It’s not illegal and the GPL permits that re-distribution. The GPL does not permit copyright infringement. It’s not nice IMHO but it’s allowed and there is really nothing wrong with that per the GPL license.

When someone takes a “premium” plugin and posts it in the repo and it’s discovered then that plugin gets removed from this place. That’s not GPL issue as much as someone is taking someone else’s work and doing something with it that the author does not wish.

O.K. When i include our Logo and our mascot in a GPL Plugin – what should i make in addition.

Write in the Plugin-Header:
License: This Plugin is icensed under the GPL v2 and later. logo.jpg and mascot.jpg are Registered trademarks and therefor has it own additional protection

Is this O.K. or is it not allowed to host such a plugin at www.ads-software.com?

And if i would like to offer a premium-Plugin – for example with support and 5 additional features – is it allowed to create such a plugin and to “call home” to find out if it is the free Plugin or the premium Plugin and then aktivate the 5 aditional features? i think not – am i right?

and if i am right and it is not allowed, what is the best way to do such a thing?

(not to do it is also a possibility ??

As is with all intellectual property rights they are only as good as your capacity to defend and secure them. That means chasing violators down and paying the legal fees to get a judgement. In that context how much time is it worth worrying over?

i lost a brand because i made a error while registering the brand. i didn’t know that i made a error. i have to learn it hard as the other person said: No sorry, you made an error and this brand is in this case mine not yours…

so it’s good to know what are your rights and how you CAN protect your brand. You don’t have to do it, but you can do it. And it is better to know this now than to find out later, that you made an error and can’t protect your brand… then it is too late and gone…

i lost a brand because i made a error while registering the brand.

I’m sorry to read that. But this topic and these forums are probably the worst place to deal with the topic of “How do I share my work with the community without losing my branding again?” ??

If you wish to share a plugin then please do. That remains a great way to get involved.

If that plugin has some sort of branding that you want to protect then please, please, please consider discussing it with someone who has a legal background in that area. Any advice offered here would range from “Meh” to “Really Epically Bad Advice™”

i know, that this is not a place where all the lawer are…

But – for example the Post you gave me the link helped me understandig the GPL better. And all the other answers here helped me a lot too.

So this is maybe the worst place to deal with this topic – but for me it was better than NOT starting this post because now i know more about GPL than before ??

And i also asked about creating a premium Plugin or a Plugin with payed support (and i think this is O.K. to do so, because many Plugins out there are made this way).

Do you think it is better to close this topic and start a new once with “Freemium Plugin – how to make it”?

i ask this, because i am new here, you not. so i think, you can really help me doing it better in the future…

Do you think it is better to close this topic and start a new once with “Freemium Plugin – how to make it”?

No, please don’t do that. This topic is yours and closing it to create it somewhere else in these forums is not really useful. ??

Do you think it is better to close this topic and start a new once with “Freemium Plugin – how to make it”?

There’s no such thing as a “Freemium Plugin” in the repo. They’re all premium. ??

There are plugin that are stand alone (the majority of them) and plugins that are an interface to a service such as Akismet. Those are software as a service, those often give me headaches.

If you wish to release a standalone plugin but have concerns about branding then… If you have specific questions about your plugin that you want to submit then you may want to engage the plugins team directly in email with your concerns.

1)

There’s no such thing as a “Freemium Plugin” in the repo. They’re all premium. ??

Uups, i thought, these – for example – ARE freemium Plugins:
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/ultimate-coming-soon-page/
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/soliloquy-lite/
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/event-espresso-free/
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/pinterest-pin-it-button/
– my mistake ??

2) once again – thank you very much spending your time helping me… maybe there is a time i can help you… I am new here but my first contact with the internet was 1993 and i am programming for 35 years ??