Re: Skype/Facebook trademark logos in Debian packages

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Eion Robb <eion@robbmob.com> writes:

> > There's no “fair use” in trademark law AFAIK.
> http://lmgtfy.com/?q=trademark+law+fair+use&l=1

(Leads to
<URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use_(U.S._trademark_law)>)

Okay, so it seems (according to Wikipedia) that the USA does recognise a
“trademark fair use”, which *does* allow referring to the product (using
the mark “nominatively”):

    In the United States, trademark law includes a fair use defense,
    sometimes called "trademark fair use" to distinguish it from the
    better-known fair use doctrine in copyright. […]

    A nonowner may also use a trademark nominatively—to refer to the
    actual trademarked product or its source. […]

This does, to my mind, permit using the mark to say “this product
supports that other product and/or service”, and doesn't need the
trademark holder's permission.

Whether other jurisdictions have a similar allowance, I don't know.

-- 
 \                            “Holy knit one purl two, Batman!” —Robin |
  `\                                                                   |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney