Re: Misuse of Debian logo for City Tourism

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

"C.M. Connelly" <cmc@debian.org> writes:

> In most cases of ``infringement'', though, I wonder whether the
> exact logo has been copied (unlikely in most cases) or whether
> another designer has simply used the tool to create a broadly
> similar spiral with a roughly equivalent color and that's being
> flagged by people who see it as the Debian logo without checking the
> details.

For trademark infringement, it's irrelevant whether "the exact logo
has been copied". Trademark doesn't concern itself with *copying*;
that's copyright.

Instead, trademarks are infringed if someone uses a mark that an
average member of the public would find confusingly similar to the
trademark. The provenance of the mark isn't in question; what matters
is whether there is confusing similarity.

-- 
 \         “Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?” “I think so, |
  `\         Brain, but three round meals a day wouldn't be as hard to |
_o__)                                 swallow.” —_Pinky and The Brain_ |
Ben Finney