On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 9:03 PM, Benson Margulies <bimargul...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This thread started as a discussion of Linux distros and trademarks. > Perhaps I could try to return it there? > > If a distro takes a release of Apache X, compiles it with minimal changes > that adapt it to the environment, and distributes it, I believe that it's a > fine thing for them to call it simple Apache X, and acknowledge our marks. > > If a distro takes a release of Apache X, and make significant changes to > it, and then distributes it, I believe that it's not OK with us for them to > simply call it Apache X. I've seen some evidence that Gentoo Linux makes a > regular habit of this, because their policies drive them to make some > pretty scary changes in some cases. Others may not share my view. > > Further, if someone takes a snapshot (small 's') from source control and > starts from that, with minimal changes, I think that this would also be > trademark-acceptable, so long as they accurately describe what they did. > > The operative concept here, as Shane has taught it, is 'confusion in the > marketplace.' If some third party behaves so as to cause confusion as to > the identity of Apache X, there's a trademark issue. If not, not. > You summed this up to the best of my understanding ... +1. If our legal VP agrees (and retracts earlier FUD) it appears we are entirely in agreement.
