Re: fair use of the word Debian
One can understand how concern would arise over the potential for random
use and misuse of the Debian mark!
To borrow an analogy given elsewhere, if I owned a Mercedes-Benz auto
dealership, then, with Mercedes-Benz' permission, I might call the
dealership Thaddeus Black Mercedes-Benz. Such a use of that mark would be
descriptive in nature.
On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz would not wish to let just any random
person use the mark without restriction, would they? To permit this would
defeat the mark's very purpose. Their dealers are formally certified,
and, presumably, bound not to misuse the Mercedes-Benz mark to describe,
say, a dealership that mainly sold Buicks.
Perhaps Debian's use of the descriptive word GNU, as in Debian GNU/Linux,
might be viewed in a similar way. This usage is naturally not meant to
imply that Debian is GNU; it is given merely as a proper descriptive term.
If Debian wished to arrange a formal certification program, governing the
proper descriptive use of the Debian mark at Debian's discretion, where
would we go to apply, please, for Debian mark certification?
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