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Re: trademark in documents



On Thu, 9 Aug 2012 07:22:56 +0200 René Mérou wrote:

> Hello

Hello!

[...]
> For each translation there will be in the future one main map like this one:
> http://es.gnu.org/~reneme/fsmap/en/other_versions/V6-alpha/fsmap-en.svg
> (if you make click you will see it has moviment to make one presentation)
> 
> One maps guide like this one:
> http://es.gnu.org/~reneme/fsmap/en/fsmap-en.svg

[...]
> And i asked if this matherial can be part of Debian as a package i made 
> myself.
> 
> One of the points that made that idea wrong was to have the icon of Firefox.
> 
> So this is my question.  I know that one article in one newspaper can have one 
> image of one enterprise or one trademarked logo or anything.
[...]
> Is it possible to use one icon of firefox in one package of debian if its not 
> one program but just didactical matherial?

I don't know whether there could be *trademark* issues with the Firefox
logo. Maybe the use in the map is considered nominative and thus
permitted by law, independently of any trademark policy?
You'll have to ask a lawyer well vetted in trademark laws, to have a
definite answer (please note that I am not a lawyer).
Anyway, I am under the impression that, *if* there's a trademark issue
with the Firefox logo, *then* there are similar issues with several
other logos/names in the map...

More than trademarks, what strikes me is the multitude of different and
mutually incompatible copyright licenses involved in a single map.
And the map itself is licensed as a whole under the terms of the GFDL
v1.3 (a very poor choice in my own personal opinion, even though, at
least, there are no invariant parts...).
I am not sure that such a map, including many incompatibly licensed
images, can be considered legally distributable, from a copyright point
of view.

Consider for instance the images which are licensed under the terms of
the GNU GPL (v2 or v3): I am afraid that the map cannot be considered as
"mere aggregation" or as an "aggregate". I think the map is not a
compilation of works, but a single work...
If this is true, then the map must be licensed as a whole under the
terms of the GNU GPL, which is not. And it cannot include
GPL-incompatible images (such as CC-licensed and GFDL-licensed ones).

> Thankyou for your time reading so long email and for the answers. :)

You're welcome: I hope that my considerations may help a little.


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