Bug#607839: Question about copyright/license of the GNOME foot Logo
Hi,
Le mardi 28 juin 2011 à 17:44 -0400, Karen Sandler a écrit :
> Ah, I see the confusion here - the logos identified on that page are the
> marks that have been registered, but GNOME, like Debian, has trademark
> rights in logos that it uses even if it hasn't registered them. And the
> usage policy covers all logos and other marks. Of course, if a mark is not
> covered by a policy or the like granting permission for use then you'd
> have an even more restricted range of things you could do with it.
Thanks for the precision. So, I understand the policy applies to the
logo in gnome-icon-theme as well.
At the very least it would be appreciated if it was mentioned in the
gnome-icon-theme package that the LGPL doesn’t actually apply to
start-here.svg.
> I don't think your conclusion is right, and I actually bet that if the
> tables were turned, Debian would have a problem if GNOME created a mark
> like that and started using it. Though I can't tell what Debian's current
> policy is, I don't believe either of the trademark policies marked
> proposed would allow it. The usage guidelines explicitly permit all of the
> uses necessary for the foot logo to be used with free software, and like
> all free software trademark policies I'm familiar with, is aimed at
> preventing confusing uses. (I also note that the Debian swirl isn't a
> registered mark but I believe Debian would expect folks not to use it in a
> way that confused people about whether they were getting a Debian distro
> or something else.) This use is actually the use of both marks in the
> creation of a new mark, which could indeed be very confusing.
The Debian logos have different policies depending on the logo:
http://www.debian.org/logos/
We used to deal very badly with our own mark, but now that our policies
have been fixed, the open use logo without the Debian text is clearly
the only one which is compatible with the Debian Free Software
Guidelines, and as such it is the only one we allow in the distribution
itself.
TTBOMK we regularly remove artwork and/or trademarked logos from some of
our packages so that the rules are the same for everyone. It would
probably be best if we could avoid to do that with GNOME.
> That being said, GNOME and Debian are working towards the same goals and
> if both organizations agree to that particular use of their marks, they
> can permit it and create a license for it, with its own policy which would
> prevent it from confusing the marketplace. GNOME will consider this
> situation in more detail.
I think I’m going to leave the Debian Project Leader deal with this.
Stefano, I’ll let you read the bug log . Maybe you’ll want to ask the
FTP masters too, since they are ultimately responsible for inclusion
rules.
Cheers,
--
.''`. Josselin Mouette
: :' :
`. `' “If you behave this way because you are blackmailed by someone,
`- […] I will see what I can do for you.” -- Jörg Schilling
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