Re: firefox -> iceweasel package is probably not legal
Michael Poole wrote:
> Trademark law's purpose is not to encourage or reward the commercial
> use of new marks, but to stem certain kinds of pernicious consumer
> confusion. As it is not simply a question of owning and controlling
> rights (for a limited period), it is incorrect to continually treat
> trademark law like those others in hope that you will convince us
> otherwise.
It doesn't matter how or why you programmed it that way, you just
can't make Iceweasel install itself when a user types "apt-get
install firefox". And that's exactly what this package does.
The use of 'firefox' in the apt-get is a reference to a
specific product. That's where trademarks come in. People
think this package will install the Firefox(TM) browser
but instead they get another browser. That's confusion.
The *only* thing you can safely do is have the apt-get result in a
message like "Firefox is not available, try Iceweasel instead". And
yes, if the user then manually does "apt-get install iceweasel" he
gets the very same result. But under trademark law, there's a big
difference: no confusion because the user now asked for and got
Iceweasel.
It doesn't matter that it's to "ease upgrading". It doesn't
matter that the word 'firefox' is a parameter to apt-get
or refers to a file of the same name. All that matters is
that installing this package with the name 'firefox' gives
you an installation of the Iceweasel browser.
Arnoud
--
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
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