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Trademarks: what is the line?



Hi all!  :)

With all these trademark-related issues, I must confess I'm getting more
and more confused...  :-(

Mozilla foundation is trying to make us accept numerous constraints on
modification for their software.
SPI owns Debian-related trademarks: there is the issue about Debian logo
images (do they comply with DFSG?).

On the other hand, "Linux" is a trademark, but Linus Torvalds seems to
be perfectly fine with Linux kernel packages distributed by Debian (even
if they are not verbatim copies of kernel.org distributed versions).
Many trademarks are quoted in debian packages (e.g. "IBM"...), and this
doesn't cause them to be non-free.


What I wonder is: what is the line between trademarks that are enforced
in a Free manner and those that are not?

Or are trademarks entirely orthogonal to Freeness issues? They still can
be used to impose significant restrictions to freedoms...


How does Debian treat such issues?
How should Debian treat them?

-- 
          Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
......................................................................
  Francesco Poli                             GnuPG Key ID = DD6DFCF4
 Key fingerprint = C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12  31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4

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