Josh Triplett wrote: > First of all, even if it is the case that we can't offer a DFSG-free > license for the logo without allowing it to become "diluted", then that > does not exempt it from being DFSG-free. I believe the suggested > licenses were very clearly non-DFSG-free. > > Second, I'm not suggesting that we put no restrictions on the logo. I > would suggest that we require people who copy, modify, or distribute the > logo to acknowledge the origin of the logo, and not misrepresent it as > being written by them.
The point in a traditional common-law trademark is that we don't want someone to go out and start "Debian Computing, Inc.", use the Debian open-use logo, and proceed to run a competing organization. A trademark license *has* to prohibit such things. Prohibiting misrepresenting the origin of the *logo* doesn't suffice. We have to require that the logo, and anything "confusingly similar", is not used to identify things which aren't Debian. We can (and should), however, * allow it (and the word "Debian") to be used in any manner which identifies Debian, the project or the distribution (including by "Debian-based" distributions, Debian redistributors, Debian developers, Debian promoters, Debian haters, Linux collages, etc.). This is in contrast to normal corporate trademark licenses. * allow it to be used in any manner which isn't identifying anything (abstract art, etc.) * allow modified versions which are not "confusingly similar" to be used for any purpose whatsoever > We should probably also include a copyleft. Such > restrictions would be DFSG-free, and probably GPL-compatible for that > matter. I also believe such a restriction, if actually enforced, ought > to be sufficient to maintain a trademark. (IANAL, hence "ought to be".) IANAL but I think it isn't from what I know about trademarks. Trademarks are very old-fashioned things. > Third, if we want a logo with a restrictive license, there is always the > Official Use logo. (I dislike the idea that any of Debian's logos would > be non-DFSG-free, however.) > > - Josh Triplett -- This space intentionally left blank.
