Re: AbiWord, trademarks, and DFSG-freeness

[Brian Thomas Sniffen <bts@alum.mit.edu>]

Francesco Poli <frx@firenze.linux.it> writes:

> On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 12:40:23 -0400 Raul Miller wrote:
>
>> If we are prohibited from removing the name abiword from some
>> derivative form of the program, then we must be allowed to have
>> abiword on that derivative form.
>
> That's not enough for DFSG-freeness, IMHO: if I'm required to keep the
> name "abiword" in every derivative work of abiword, I cannot sanely
> choose a name for a derivative that is significantly different (in
> scope, purpose, functionality and so forth) from the original.
>
> That is a major restriction in modification and it seems to fail DFSG#3.

It's a smaller restriction on modification than a patch clause, and so
DFSG-free.  It's distasteful for the same reasons as a patch clause,
but in the imagined world where i have to call every derivative of
FooWriter "FooWriter" I can just call the kernel I develop from it
"FooWriter OS" and the movie script "FooWriter: The Movie" and so on..  

-Brian

-- 
Brian Sniffen                                       bts@alum.mit.edu