Re: Debian & the Mozilla Firefox Trademarks
Eric Dorland wrote:
> * Ben Goodger (ben@mozilla.org) wrote:
>> Eric Dorland wrote:
>>
>> >Hi Ben,
>> >
>> >
>> Hi Eric,
>>
>> I'm replying to this including our QA person, Asa Dotzler who is
>> interested in these matters.
> [snip]
>>
>> Asa will comment more here.
>>
>> >The other issue that came up was that of the Firefox artwork. At the
>> >request of a user I added the new (gorgeous) Firefox icons to the
>> >package. I thought the fact they weren't already there was just a
>> >oversight, but I now realize they're trademarked as well. Is there any
>> >way we could get that icon or some derivative of it under a DFSG
>> >compatible license. We would need something like this to distribute
>> >them in Debian. Having different icons would again cause confusion and
>> >worsen the experience for our users.
>> >
>> >
>> Does DFSG imply that anyone can modify and use the Firefox artwork for
>> any purpose? If so, then we have additional issues.
>
> Not exactly. Unfortunately the DFSG were written with source code in
> mind and really don't take things like artwork and documentation, so
> maybe someone from debian-legal would like to comment on that
> further.
For the Firefox artwork to be DFSG-free, anyone must be allowed to modify
it, and use the original or modified versions for their own purposes --
*PROVIDED* that they do not leave off attribution for the artwork's source,
misstate the artwork's authorship, misrepresent it, *OR* use it to infringe
trademark rights by causing confusion about product identity, etc., etc.
In other words, for it to be DFSG-free, you must allow modified versions of
the artwork to be used in ways that *don't* infringe trademark rights.
(Yes, there are some.) Surely that's OK? :-)
Eric, please feel free to forward this to whoever you like; I can only send
it to the list at the moment. :-(
> But looking at the point 4 of the DFSG
> (http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines), you can have the
> artwork modified as long as someone can distribute patches against it
> (how to have an artwork patch, i don't know, but there's no technical
> reason it couldn't be done). Otherwise it seems well within your
> rights under the DFSG to not allow the artwork to be used outside of
> the source, or comply them to modify it. Again, I'm hoping someone
> from debian-legal will correct me if I'm wrong.
>
--
Nathanael Nerode <neroden at gcc.gnu.org>
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