On Tue, Jul 20, 2004 at 10:35:48PM +0100, Daniel Glassey wrote: > Begin forwarded message: > > >From: Dom Lachowicz > >Date: 20 July 2004 22:08:34 BST > >To: Andy Korvemaker, abiword-dev@abisource.com > >Subject: Re: Abiword being removed from Debian/unstable? [...] > >For the record, I've recently acquired the AbiWord trademarks and > >whatnot. I haven't had a chance to update the TM information on the > >website. Hello, Thank you very much for shedding some light on this issue! I have some questions below. > >To be expressly clear here for any Debian guys that read this message: > > > >Within reason, I don't care if you use "AbiWord" vs. "AbiWord > >Personal." In fact, I'd prefer it if you used "AbiWord." > > > >Within reason, I don't care if you use the "official" artwork or the > >"personal" artwork. In fact, I'd prefer it if you used the "official" > >artwork. > > > >I do begin to care if you use my trademarks to promote other products, > >or in ways that disparage my trademarks or products. If you "forked" > >AbiWord, you couldn't use the trademarks. But you're clearly not going > >to do that. The USPTO has more info and case law on this sort of thing. > > > >Debian and the other distros are clearly distributing AbiWord, and > >providing a beneficial service to the community. Even though Debian's > >version might have a few patches against our "mainline" branch, I don't > >believe it constitutes a "fork." As such, I think that it is fine (if > >not preferable) for you guys to use the official name and artwork in > >your distribution. > > > >So, you have my blessing to call your AbiWord + patches "AbiWord". You > >can use the official artwork too. One of Debian's "freeness" criteria is that licenses not be specific to us[1]. The Open Source Initiaive has a similar criterion, which says that licenses must not be specific to a "product". To be precise: 8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.[1] Debian wants our users to enjoy the same freedoms we do, and we consider our users to be -- potentially, anyway -- the "general public". Are you willing to extend this trademark license to the general public? I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but I *suspect* you can do so without encouraging dilution. If I may, let me rephrase your statement above so that it is not specific to OS distributors: [EXAMPLE -- NOT ACTUAL STATEMENT OF TRADEMARK HOLDER] Within reason, I don't care if you use "AbiWord" vs. "AbiWord Personal." In fact, if you regard the AbiSource community as your source for the work you're distributing, and you seek to retain compatibility with the work distriuted by the AbiSource community, I'd prefer it if you used "AbiWord." Within reason, I don't care if you use the "official" artwork or the "personal" artwork. In fact, if you regard the AbiSource community as your source for the work you're distributing, and you seek to retain compatibility with the work distriuted by the AbiSource community, I'd prefer it if you used the "official" artwork. I do care if you use my trademarks to promote other products, or in ways that disparage my trademarks or products. If your goal is to distribute a work that is largely indepent of, and/or is not compatible with the works distributed by the AbiSource community, then you should NOT regard yourself as having permission to use the trademarks. Those who distribute the works of the AbiSource community to the general public, I regard as providing a beneficial service to the community. Even if the works your redistribute have a few "patches" against the AbiSource community's "mainline" branch, this doesn't necessarily constitute a "fork". As such, I think that it is fine (if not preferable) for such people to use the official name and artwork in their distributions. If you have doubt as to whether the work you are distribuing is compatible with that distributed by the AbiSource community, please contact me, Dom Lachowicz <domlachowicz@yahoo.com>, so that we can try to figure out whether this trademark license grant applies to you. [EXAMPLE -- NOT ACTUAL STATEMENT OF TRADEMARK HOLDER] My goals in the above restatement are several: 1) Eliminate "grant of license to specific party" problems which could run afoul of DFSG 8 or OSD 8. 2) Generalize the language so that it could be re-used for any other work the AbiSource community comes up with, not just AbiWord. 3) Do not attempt to prohibit anything not already prohibited by trademark law. This isn't merely the polite thing to do on the part of licensor; it leaves people in the position of having to consult with you and/or their lawyer(s) to figure out what they can get away with if they'd like to skirt your intentions. In most such cases the easiest and most affordable thing to do is just to rename the work and not use the trademarked names or images as representations of the work they're distributing. (As I understand it, they can still use the term "AbiWord" to make factual statements about the heredity of their forked work, which is probably good for the AbiSource community anyway. They merely cannot attempt to "pass off" their work as AbiWord without violating the Lanham Act[3].) I hope that the above accurately captures your desires, albeit in a broader context. Please let me know if I'm reasoning from any bad assuptions. Thanks for your work and understanding. If it matters, I've been a happy AbiWord user since version 0.9<mumble>. :) [1] http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines [2] http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php [3] http://www.bitlaw.com/source/15usc/ -- G. Branden Robinson | Quantum materiae materietur marmota Debian GNU/Linux | monax si marmota monax materiam branden@debian.org | possit materiari? http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |
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