Re: Python Software Foundation trademark policy
Gervase Markham <gerv@mozilla.org> wrote:
> MJ Ray wrote:
> > Well, it applies to all commercial distribution which uses the
> > Python trademark.
>
> Right. And doesn't calling some software "Python" count as "using the
> Python trademark"? (The word, not any logos there might happen to be.)
I think it only uses it if done commercially, and meeting the other
conditions of the Trade Marks Act.
Now I look more closely (overriding www.python.org's broken text
colours), most of the uses should be covered by other bullet points in
the policy anyway, so I correct myself: it applies to all commercial
distribution of the Python programming language as part of a freely
distributed application.
By the way, I do feel the PSF Trademark Usage Policy is generally
"hinder poor workers, help rich academics" which seems a shame, but
maybe isn't surprising given its development heritage:
http://www.python.org/doc/Introduction.html
> If I purchase Debian CDs and type "python", or I do "man python" and
> read all about the interpreter which I can invoke by typing "python"
> which interprets the Python programming language, or I install
> "python-doc" and read some more, isn't that use of the trademark?
What trade is happening when one types "python", or does "man python"
and reads, or installs python-doc and reads? If someone is paying you
to do those acts, I expect it may be necessary to beware the
trademarks more.
Is the purchase the only trade necessarily in the above?
I believe there is a possibility of the offence of passing off if
modifications are not clearly disclosed, but every normal debian
system should have the changelogs giving clear details of the
modifications as described in the Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide
and elsewhere.
More generally, as with firefox: what trademarks against executable
names (which seem like mere functional labels to me) have been
enforced successfully? Against any file names, even?
I found this claimed limit on trademarking financial index names: "the
name of an index may be protected as a trademark, as long as the name
is either distinctive or has acquired distinctiveness."
-- http://www.sec.gov/rules/petitions/4-469/sig110603.htm
Would something at least as strong hold for command names?
Also, is python distinctive? When someone requests merely "python",
do they expect to get the naked latest stable PSF CPython (PSF site
calls it that less and less, http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0339/
) rather than another implementation, an earlier version, a derived
work of one of them - whatever their OS developers felt will best run
python-language programs on that OS?
Puzzled,
--
MJR/slef
My Opinion Only: see http://people.debian.org/~mjr/
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