Plugins distributed under the GPL (General Public License) license allow other developers to fork them modify their code and distribute them to others under the same terms. When a plugin gets forked and the new developer does not change the plugin s name or logo there is a problem. Clients believe they are purchasing the same plugin from the same source but this is not the case and it is a violation of the original developer s trademark on the name and logo of the company.
Another difficulty emerges when the redistributable code is licensed under the GPL but the plugin uses proprietary Software as a Service (SaaS) technology that is not included in the redistributable code. Example: The Elementor plugin receives private data from their servers and those servers also contain proprietary code that conducts extra computation on the data received from them.
The GPL is absolutely fantastic since it encourages innovation by making code available for others to reuse. This is made possible by the GPL. It also makes it possible for outsiders such as security researchers to examine source code which aids in the identification of vulnerabilities and the improvement of online security. However misusing the GPL in order to appear to be someone you are not while removing functionality that a customer expects is not what the GPL was intended to be used for in the first place.
Plugin Rush believes in the GPL and does not modify the plugins and themes on this site in any way.