After review by various legal experts, Mullenweg uses the premium WordPress theme Thesis as an example of an alleged license violation. In an interview with Andrew Warner, owner of the website mixergy.com, Mullenweg said: "Thesis has stated publicly that they believe in a different interpretation of the GPL. The GPL doesn’t apply to them. That WordPress’ license doesn’t apply and they don’t need to follow it. That’s obviously harmful to the WordPress community and I would love them to join and be GPL."

According to Mullenweg, the issue is not that theme and plug-in developers have to offer their work for free. "You could even sell the theme itself," Mullenweg says. However, writing code and creating functionality on top of software distributed under the GPL license and not making this work available under the same license terms is violating the GPL, Mullenweg alleges. "…when you violate someone's license it is breaking the law. It’s a definition of breaking the law."

Hundreds of themes were already removed from the WordPress theme directory since they did not comply with GPL license requirements.

A video with the full audio of Warner’s interview is available here. The site has also a full transcript of the interview available.

Update: The Thesis WordPress theme is now in compliance and adheres to the GPL license terms. "Now, back to work. :) This has taken a lot of my time over the past few days and was going to consume more if it went forward," Mullenweg said on Twitter. "Thrilled, however, that Thesis is now legal and in compliance ..."

"Wordcamp San Francisco 2010" will feature Mullenweg and Richard Stallman, who launched the development of the GNU operating system in 1984, as speakers. Joseph Scott will talk about "Writing Responsible Plug-in & Theme Code," and Karl Fogel will talk about "Bodysurfing the Blogosphere: How an Audience-Distributed Film Won Big."Working sessions on May 2 to 4 will focus on coding and bug-patching for release 3.0. Over 700 users and developers from 32 countries attended the event in 2009. Parties interested in the 2010 camp can find additional information here.

Free and Open Source Software Conference and Expo

The seventh annual Ohio LinuxFest will be held on September 25-27, 2009 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hosting authoritative speakers and a large expo, the Ohio LinuxFest welcomes Free and Open Source Software professionals, enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to take part in the event.

The Ohio LinuxFest is a free, grassroots conference for the GNU/Linux/Open Source Software/Free Software community that started in 2003 as a large inter-LUG meeting and has grown steadily since. It is a place for the community to gather and share information about Linux and Open Source Software. A large expo area adjacent to the conference rooms will feature exhibits from our sponsors as well as a large .org section from non-profit Open Source/Free Software projects.

More info at: OhioLinux.org