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Re: Proposed vote on issue of the day: trademarks and free software



On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 12:56:28PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote:
> Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org> wrote: [...]
> > For those of you who're not aware: the Mozilla Foundation is now forcing
> > people who want to use their firefox trademark to display an EULA to
> > their users on first run of the software. It does not currently require
> > them to accept to it, so they can easily bypass the license by just
> > ignoring it.
> 
> While they may have changed their position, I don't think it changes
> the basic problem with Firefox failing to be Free Software due to
> trademarks.  The statement only mentions the EULA as an example of the
> problem, not as the basic problem.
...
> In short, I don't care whether someone breaks the DFSG with a
> copyright licence or a trademark licence or a death threat or whatever
> other tool.  It's about freedom, not a few laws.

Full AOL.  Thus I also second this statement:

> > ===Begin resolution text===
> > The Debian Project has been watching the case around the Mozilla
> > Project's EULA requirement for people wishing to use their trademarks
> > from a distance. This is an issue that has been brewing for a few years
> > now; and even though we've chosen not to use the Firefox, Thunderbird,
> > Mozilla, and Seamonkey trademarks, we still feel that we ought to make
> > our position on this important issue clear.
> >
> > The Free Software community as a whole is based around the notion that
> > one should be allowed to modify software when they feel it necessary;
> > and that the right to such modification and subsequent redistribution is
> > a basic right to users that should not be taken away.
> >
> > By using trademark law to enforce certain requirements that we do not
> > usually consider to be characteristic of Free Software, such as a
> > requirement for patch review and a requirement to include a particular
> > end-user license, the Debian Project feels that the Mozilla Foundation
> > has now turned the trademarked version of their Free Software into
> > software that is no longer free.
> > ===End resolution text===

Thanks,
Bas

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