![]() ![]() As far as I can tell, Wix has more or less conceded that point. With that caveat in mind, I’d say that the ‘React Native WordPress Rich Text Editor’ in Wix’s Github repository does seem to be a derivative work of the WordPress Rich Text Editor. I can’t profess to know all the factual detail in relation to how the Wix mobile app works so am reluctant to nail my colours to the mast on the derivative work question. If that is right, it is not complying with the GPL. ![]() In my view, to comply with the GPL, Wix needs to meet the requirements I’m discussing here – and which Matt is concerned about – in the distribution of its mobile app. For this reason, to my mind, partial compliance with the GPL’s requirements on Github (in relation to inclusion of appropriate copyright notices etc) is no answer. Distribution of the app itself, which I assume embodies the relevant WordPress code, is a separate distribution. Whilst Wix has taken some steps to comply with these requirements in its own Github repository, I think we need to appreciate that Github is only one form of distribution and it’s not the form that most users of the mobile app would experience. As far as I can see, there’s no reference to the app including WordPress code, no copyright notice to that effect, no disclaimer of warranty in relation to that code and no copy of or link to the GPL (by contrast, the WordPress mobile app links to the source code in the relevant Github repository which also contains the GPL licensing statement and a copy of the GPL). I’ve downloaded the Wix mobile app onto my iPhone and taken a look at the listing page on the Apple app store and the app’s various pages. Inclusion of appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty and copy of or link to GPL I’m not interested in vilifying anyone and I don’t intend to do so. Yes, I prefer WordPress over Wix, but I’m writing this because, at least for a lawyer, it raises an interesting set of issues. I’ll give my preliminary thoughts on each of them.īut first… Before getting into these thoughts, I want to say that I’m looking at this from a legal perspective. If so, when releasing the relevant derivative work, has Wix released it under the GPL as the GPL would require and, if not, what are the consequences? Has Wix created a derivative work of WordPress code and, if so, what is that derivative work? Is it the React Native WordPress Rich Text Editor or the whole Wix mobile app?ģ. Has Wix published on or in relation to its mobile app an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty, kept intact all the notices that refer to the GPL and to the absence of any warranty, and included a copy of the GPL (or at least a link to it) along with the app?Ģ. ![]() I think the main ones (but not the only ones) are these:ġ. There is, it seems to me, a range of issues. ![]() And, by the way, the part that we used was in fact developed by another and modified by you.” Main issues Yes, we did use the WordPress open source library for a minor part of the application (that is the concept of open source right?), and everything we improved there or modified, we submitted back as open source, see here in this link – you should check it out, pretty cool way of using it on mobile native, I really think you guys can use it with your app (and it is open source, so you are welcome to use it for free). There are more than 3 million lines of code in the Wix application, notably the hotels/blogs/chat/ecommerce/scheduling/booking is all our code. “Next you talk about the Wix App being stolen from WordPress. Your app’s editor is built with stolen code, so your whole app is now in violation of the license.” The GPL is what has allowed WordPress to flourish, and that let us create this code. “This explicitly contravenes the GPL, which requires attribution and a corresponding GPL license on whatever you release publicly built on top of GPL code. You can see the forked repositories on GitHub complete with original commits from Alex and Maxime, two developers on Automattic’s mobile team.” The custom icons, the class names, even the bugs. Matt has said that “Wix copied WordPress without attribution, credit, or following the license.The key points, it seems to me, are these: I’ve read through his post and I’ve read the Wix CEO Avishai Abrahami’s prompt reply, “ Dear Matt Mullenweg: an open letter from Wix.com’s CEO Avishai Abrahami” as well as a Wix engineer’s reply in “ How I Found Myself Accused of Stealing Code from WordPress”. Perhaps not surprisingly, Matt’s recent post “ The Wix Mobile App, a WordPress Joint” caught my eye. ![]()
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