On Wed, 2008-06-04 at 10:34 -0400, Jay R. Ashworth wrote: > On Wed, Jun 04, 2008 at 05:15:49AM +0200, Trixter aka Bret McDanel wrote: > > Basically it means if you remove something for reasons other than > > porting or add anything for any reason you cant use their trademarked > > words (among others: DIGIUM, ASTERISK, AsteriskNOW, IAX, and DUNDi) > > anywhere in the software or your product description. > > They can't protect IAX and DUNDi that way, I'm pretty sure; the > *protocols* would be stock, and therefore not violate the license -- > but since usage of those particular terms is almost certainly > nominative anyway, they *still* couldn't enforce. >
trademark wouldnt cover the protocol, only the name, so yes they can in the way they they are claiming trademark the name. > > Dont advertise it as asterisk or asterisk based per section "Uses that > > are Not Approved by this Policy" paragraph 3 in certain places of your > > web page (possibly not anywhere since that would influence search engine > > results if the engine indexes based on content). > > "Asterisk-based" is, again, nominative. > According to their policy that is derived from asterisk, according to their policy if its not a "Genuine Digium Product" as defined in their terms you cant use their words. This is just what digium is claiming publicly and openly on their webpage what you can and cannot do, basically if you innovate asterisk in any meaningful way you must fork it, which looses the license exceptions, which means it no longer works. Its actually a clever way to release it gpl without having the risk of anyone ever competing with you (even if they are releasing gpl too). > It's also factually correct. They can't, I don't think, control that > usage either, though IANAL. well whether or not they can, their use policy states this, and that is all I was saying, this isnt really the proper forum to debate whether or not they *can*, I was just commenting on the fact that they are claiming you cant. Personally I think it would be difficult to sue (although trivial to file and cost you a bunch of money). I also dont imagine they would sue, but they say they can. What would be nice is if they came up with a policy that was compliant with the *spirit* of the gpl not just its wording if they really want to foster good feelings in the community. -- Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com Bret McDanel Belfast +44 28 9099 6461 US +1 516 687 5200 http://www.trxtel.com the phone company that pays you! _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
