Hi Arne, On Sat, Jul 19 2025, Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide wrote:
> One concrete question: can I use "The extension language of the GNU > project" on the cover or would that infringe on the FSF trademark? I read a little bit about trademarks while I was a trademark delegate for the Debian project, but I have no legal training and am not qualified to give you any advice. I'll therefore limit my statements to what I would do. Please take me at face value---namely that I am someone on the Internet who could be an idiot, a crook, or worse. If I were truly worried that the FSF was offended by my use of the GNU trademark, I would check with them. If that didn't yield any results, I would ask an attorney. I read somewhere that one point of having a trademark is to avoid confusion among consumers in the sense that consumers are supposed to get the genuine product when they ask for it. [1] For that reason, I will happily use other people's trademarks as long as I am referring to their products. How else am I supposed to talk about their products? I would be a lot more careful, however, when writing about a fork, especially when the authors made more than clerical adjustments. Personally, I also hesitate to benefit from someone else's trademark. For example, I would avoid the impression that the owner endorsed my work. I might even say in a footnote that they didn't. As for your quote, the phrase "The extension language of the GNU project" seems to appear more or less on the website, but there is an extra word: "Guile is [...] the official extension language of the GNU project." [2] I am not sure I would personally be comfortable enough to write either one. I wouldn't worry so much about the trademark but more about the fact that the statements are just not mine to make. I am neither part of the FSF or the GNU project, so I might add quotes or a footnote pointing to the GNU website, or maybe even both. May this message help you seek answers from the FSF or from an attorney. I only wrote because no one else responded to that part of your message. Please do not rely on anything in this letter. I am not qualified to give you the advice you seek. Please consult an expert. Kind regards Felix [1] https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/likelihood-confusion-how-do-you-determine-trademark-infringing.html {2] https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/
