Ben Reser quoth:
Ignore the trademark issue. The copyright issue should be much clearer. Surely SPI knows who made the logo and that person can certify that it is an original work? If SPI can do that they have a case of a clear derivative work. If SPI can't do that then Debian needs a different logo.
Yes, this is the case; I believe the logo's designer has been named in an earlier thread -- could someone better at research than I dig it out?
The logo is currently *only* licensed for use to represent Debian (although it is considered preferable to change the copyright license, it hasn't been changed yet, pending strengthening the trademark protection). This is a clear-cut copyright infringement.
I think it's also be a trademark violation (it's *so* close that it's easily confused with the Debian logo), but I don't know the state of SPI's trademark handling.
If someone gets me the reference to the logo's designer, I'll contact the SPI board directly with the sum of the evidence and ask them what the formal status of this is. (I am an SPI member.)