Re: Kleansweep, trademark issue and Debian
On Fri, Nov 25, 2005 at 10:57:31PM +0100, Claudio Moratti wrote:
> Hi!
> some weeks ago I sent a message about kleansweeb trademark issue...
>
> I recived one aswer
> (http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/10/msg00040.html)... thanks :D
>
> the problem is... I sent a request to upstream author, but he didn't do
> anything...
>
> Now, I've a open ITP (329020) about kleansweep, and I'd like to close it!
>
> I found these solutions:
> 1) ignoring trademark issue and send a RFS (i'm not a dd)... trademark issue
> is a 'author' problem, not a Debian problem, right?
Yes, the problem exists upstream, but it also exists for Debian, I
think, because whoever holds the relevant TM could (try to) hold us
accountable.
> 2) patching the sources changing the name (kleaner for example...)
This is a good possibility; then mention in ./debian/control and
README.Debian that the name was changed to avoid the TM.
> 3) closing the bug without packaging the software...
Unattractive option.
> which way do you advise to me?
Why don't you keep an unapplied patch in ./debian/ which can be used
to change the name? Then, if there is ever a problem, its trivial to
fix. AIUI this is the kind of approach that might be taken with
firefox.. The patch might be trivial; or, you might initially think
that it is trivial, but then keep running into different instances of
the TM name. So you might start with such a patch, however small and
trivial, but maintain it as you discover hypothetical internal
references to the name.
I know little of trademarks, and about your specific one, but not
packaging the software because of such a problem, when it could be
worked around, is still unattrictive.
--
Clear skies,
Justin
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