Re: Skype/Facebook trademark logos in Debian packages

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

Gabriele Giacone <losgarbo@libero.it> writes:

> Eion Robb wrote:
> > You'll also want to remove the MSN/AIM/etc logos from
> > Pidgin/Empathy/etc too, since they obviously fall into the same
> > legal grey area. Unless they're considered "fair use" then
> > everything should be good to go.

There's no “fair use” in trademark law AFAIK. But the rights reserved to
trademark holders are somewhat limited.

> I agree. What about MSN butterfly [1], ICQ flower [2], etc ?
>
> "ICQ, THE FLOWER LOGO, THE ICQ NETWORK and/or other ICQ products
> referenced herein are trademarks and/or servicemarks of ICQ. […] No
> license is granted to you in this Agreement, either expressly or
> implicitly, to use any trademark, servicemark, names, or logos of ICQ,
> including ICQ and the flower logo."

The question is, does one *need* the trademark holder's permission to
use the trademark in this way? I thought using a trademark specifically
to *refer to* the product was clearly allowed under trademark law in
most jurisdictions. Would someone explain why that's not so?

-- 
 \      “I like to skate on the other side of the ice.” —Steven Wright |
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_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney