Hello debian-legal.
Mugshot is an open project to create a live social experience around
entertainment, and the mugshot-client integrates this into the
linux-desktop. See http://mugshot.org for more info on this.
The client is released under the terms of GPLv2, but Mugshot™ is also a
trademark of Red Hat, Inc and may only be used in accordance with some
trademark guidelines found at http://mugshot.org/trademark
I've been maintaining the mugshot-client outside of the Debian-archives
for 1,5 years now, due to some concerns with the Mugshot Trademark
Guidelines at first. I vented these to the developers and Red Hat a
while back, and at least my concerns have been solved now, as these
guidelines are much clearer on redistribution of the client (see the
part "Modified Mugshot Client Code – Limited Trademark Permission")
Therefore (upon several requests from users of my package) I now wish to
upload the client to the main-section of the archive.
However, I would really like some more (critical) eyes to take a look at
the Trademark Guidelines before uploading, and someone to confirm or
disapprove of my conclusion.
The full text of http://mugshot.org/trademark as it is displayed on
2007-12-04 is attached below. The conditions as they are set at the
moment are all met in my package.
I'd like some feedback on this from you, and unless there is some strong
disagreement on how Debian will be in compliance with this I will
hopefully get to upload the package this coming weekend.
Cheers :)
Heikki
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Trademark Guidelines
Mugshot™ Trademark Guidelines
RED HAT, INC. RESERVES THE RIGHT TO
CHANGE THESE GUIDELINES AT ANY TIME.
YOU SHOULD PERIODICALLY CHECK THESE
GUIDELINES TO BE SURE THAT YOU ARE
IN COMPLIANCE.
Basic Introduction
Red Hat, Inc. has a long and
distinguished history of being an
active contributor to the open
source software community. One of
the key features of open source
software is that anyone has the
right to copy, modify and
redistribute the software, subject
to the terms and conditions of
certain license agreements or
copyright permissions, such as the
GNU General Public License. It is
important to understand that,
although Red Hat allows third
parties to replicate its open source
software under the GNU GPL, absent a
written agreement or other express
permission it does not allow third
parties to use its trademarks. For
example, absent a trademark license
from Red Hat, a party would have the
right to copy, modify and sell Red
Hat's open source software, but they
would have to call it by another
name. Red Hat has always been fully
supportive of open source rights
with regard to copyrights and
demonstrates that support by
releasing the software we develop
under open source licenses. This
document is designed to provide
guidance on how the software
developed and marketed under the
Mugshot™ trademark may be marketed
by others, using Red Hat's Mugshot™
mark.
A Brief Introduction To Copyright
And Trademark Law As They Relate To
Software
The guidelines in this document are
based on United States law. Although
many countries follow the same
principles discussed below, the laws
of other countries may also differ
on some points.
Copyright
Copyright law protects the
expression of an idea. Mugshot™
consists of open source software
modules, most developed by Red Hat
but some developed by other members
of the open source community. Those
authors (or their employers) hold
the copyrights in the modules or
code they developed. Through Red Hat
the Mugshot Project then permits
others to copy, modify and
redistribute the work under the GNU
General Public License ("GPL")
version 2 and the Mugshot Project's
own End User License Agreement.
Although software licensed under the
GPL is "open source software," Red
Hat retains ownership of the
copyright in the work and only Red
Hat can grant rights to use the
Mugshot™ mark.. Neither the GPL nor
the Mugshot Project's End User
License Agreement grant any right to
use Red Hat's trademarks in the
redistribution of the collective
work.
Basic Introduction
Trademarks are used to identify the
source of goods and services in the
market. Trademark law is best
understood as consumer protection
law, since it enables consumers of
products to know the source of the
products they purchase and allows
them to distinguish those products
from the products of other vendors.
This is important in order to ensure
that consumers are not fooled into
purchasing a product of one company
while believing it is a product of
another company.
For instance, Heinz® ketchup is a
well-known brand of ketchup. If
Jones Company decided to make its
own ketchup, and was able to market
it as Heinz® ketchup, Jones Company
would profit in the sale of its
ketchup from the customer goodwill
established by the owner of the
well-known Heinz® brand. Although
that might be good for Jones
Company, it could be bad for the
consumers who purchased the Jones
Company ketchup, believing that it
was Heinz® ketchup. Such trademark
use would be impermissible under
applicable law. This is true even
though the Jones Company ketchup
contains exactly the same
ingredients as the Heinz® ketchup.
A similar situation arises with the
trademarks owned by Red Hat. Many
consumers have come to trust the Red
Hat® branded products and services,
and look for a Red Hat brand,
including Mugshot™ when they obtain
our open source products. As a
result, consumers who obtain
products that are labeled Mugshot™
or some close variation (see "Use of
Mugshot Trademark") believe that
they are the official products of
the Mugshot Project. Consumers often
expect that such products will
contain features that are available
only from the Mugshot Project. In
order to protect consumers, Red Hat
has an obligation to ensure that its
trademarks are not used to identify
the products of other companies or
used in any other manner which
states or implies an association or
sponsorship by Red Hat of other
companies' products.
Protection of Trademarks
Under trademark law, owners of
trademarks who use their trademarks
improperly or who fail to police the
use of their trademarks by others
may lose their rights in those
trademarks. For instance, now-common
words such as "zipper" and
"elevator" were trademarks at one
time. Their owners allowed the marks
to be widely known and used as
generic names for the associated
products, and, as a result, all
trademark protection was lost. Some
examples of trademarks that are
protected by their owners at great
lengths today from such "genericide"
include Kleenex® brand facial
tissues, Band-Aid® brand bandages
and Xerox® brand photocopiers. In
addition to monitoring the use of
trademarks by others, policing also
requires maintaining control over
the nature and quality of the goods
and services that are marketed under
the trademarks.
Red Hat has filed to register the
trademark Mugshot™ in the United
States Patent and Trademark Office.
We are also seeking registration of
the mark in many other countries
around the world, have filed
applications to register the mark in
still other countries, and we will
continue to aggressively register
our trademarks in countries where we
do business.
Our unregistered trademarks are also
protected under trademark law.
Unregistered trademarks of Red Hat
include RPM and Bluecurve.
"Fair Use" of Trademarks
Although a trademark owner should
take action to police the use of its
trademarks by others, it cannot
prevent others from using its
trademarks under all circumstances.
For instance, a company may refer to
the trademarks of competing products
in marketing its own products. As an
example, Burger King might choose to
state in advertisements that "Burger
King® french fries were preferred
over McDonald's® french fries in a
taste test." Although McDonald's® is
a trademark of McDonald's
Corporation, Burger King could
mention it in its marketing in this
fashion so long as the statement is
truthful and not misleading, does
not imply an improper association
with or sponsorship by McDonald's
and otherwise complies with
applicable laws. A key element in
evaluating whether the use of
someone else's trademark is
acceptable is whether the use is
likely to cause confusion in the
marketplace as to the source or
sponsorship of a product. Burger
King's use of "McDonald's®" in the
statement above is not likely to
lead consumers to believe that
Burger King® french fries are a
product of McDonald's or that Burger
King® french fries emanate from or
are sponsored or approved by
McDonald's Corporation.
Mugshot™ Trademark Guidelines
Use of the Mugshot™ Mark and Other
Red Hat Trademarks Which Are
Included in Mugshot
One of the purposes of the Mugshot
Project is to provide access to a
user's information and social
network through client and on-line
software in a consistent way. In
order to achieve this purpose it is
important that the technology can
quickly be identified and that the
recipient knows the technology they
are receiving will faithfully
provide that experience. Red Hat has
chosen the Mugshot™ mark to identify
this effort and is granting broad
usage rights in that trademark in
order to assure widespread
availability.
Persons wishing to produce CD-ROM
and other products that contain the
software which the Mugshot Project
distributes under the Mugshot™ may
do so as long as they follow these
guidelines. Except as expressly
granted herein or under rights of
fair use, no party has a right to
use the Mugshot™ mark in association
with the software provided by the
Mugshot Project. Doing so would
cause confusion among the customers
who obtain those products because
they may believe they are obtaining
a product emanating from or
sponsored by the Mugshot Project
but, in reality, it is a product of
another party altogether.
To address this issue, we have
developed the following guidelines
for the use of the Mugshot™
trademark. These guidelines are
designed to serve both consumers of
Mugshot software and services to
ensure that they know the source of
the products and services they
receive and distributors of Mugshot
Project client software so that they
can avoid improperly generating
confusion in the marketplace.
Mugshot™ is a trademark of Red Hat,
Inc. and may only be used with Red
Hat Inc.'s express permission.
Except as provided herein, you may
not use "Mugshot" or any confusingly
similar mark as a trademark for your
software offering, or use "Mugshot"
in any other manner that might cause
confusion in the marketplace,
including in advertising, on auction
sites, or on software or hardware.
Any party wishing to use the
Mugshot™ mark may do so as long as
they meet these conditions:
1. They may use the Mugshot™
mark in association with the
original Mugshot™ code found
on the Mugshot Project
website (see
http://mugshot.org) without
modification; or
2. They may use the Mugshot™
mark in association with a
modified version of the
original Mugshot™ client
code provided they abide by
the conditions set forth
below; and
3. If they charge a fee for the
CD-ROM or other media on
which they deliver the
Mugshot™ code, they warranty
the media on which the
Mugshot™ code is delivered,
thus ensuring that the
recipient receives a usable
copy.
Except as expressly stated herein,
no other rights are granted to use
any other Red Hat trademarks,
specifically including the RED HAT®
and "Shadowman" logo® marks.
Absolutely no exceptions.
Distribution by FTP or Electronic
Download
If you distribute the Mugshot™
client code by FTP or other
electronic download, you have
permission to identify the download
using the Mugshot™ mark so long as
you are otherwise in compliance with
these guidelines. If you are using
Mugshot™ to identify the download,
it must be in compliance with these
Mugshot Trademark Guidelines, and
you must also display the following
statement: “This distribution of
Mugshot™ is subject to the Red Hat
license for Mugshot™ which may be
found at
http://mugshot.org/licenses.”; Of
course, you are always permitted to
redistribute the code without
utilizing the Mugshot™ mark so long
as you otherwise comply with the GNU
General Public License. Please bear
in mind that you are solely
responsible for ensuring that the
download you provide complies with
these Mugshot Trademark Guidelines.
Modified Mugshot Client Code –
Limited Trademark Permission
Red Hat and the Mugshot Project
support the extension of Mugshot™ to
new platforms and languages. Red Hat
grants a limited permission to use
the Mugshot™ mark on these modified
versions of the Mugshot™ client code
provided the following conditions
are met:
1. You identify your version of
the client code as an
adapted version of Mugshot™
in the “About” dialog
associated with the Mugshot
icon. The attribution
statement should be similar
to: “Mugshot™ client code
adapted for ____.”
2. You do not prefix the named
product with "Red Hat" (e.g.
"Red Hat Mugshot" is not
allowed.).
3. The changes you make do not
alter the fundamental user
experience from that
provided by Mugshot™ as made
available by Red Hat. That
is, you can:
1. localize the client
code;
2. provide patches or
bug fixes to the
client code;
3. provide extensions
or plug-ins to the
client code; or
4. adapt the client
code to run on
another platform;
but
5. you cannot
substantively modify
or remove basic
components of the
client code such
that the user
experience is
altered.
4. You do not redirect the
client code to operate with
a server other than the
server found at mugshot.org
It is very important that any
modified version of Mugshot™ meet
(or exceed) the quality level people
have come to associate with
Mugshot™. Red Hat reserves the right
to require persons to cease use of
the Mugshot™ mark if they are
redistributing software with low
quality and efforts to remedy the
situation have not succeeded.
In particular, when making additions
or changes to the Mugshot™ code, we
recommend that you contact the
Mugshot Project in advance to
discuss any quality concerns that
may arise. To ensure high quality,
you should rigorously test the
effects of such changes against the
mugshot.org servers.
Conclusion
These guidelines are designed to
assist users and distributors of
Mugshot Project code. If you are
aware of violations of them, please
contact us at trademarks@redhat.com.
Copyright © 2007 Red Hat, Inc. All
rights reserved.
--
Heikki Henriksen <heikkih@gmail.com>
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