Yeargh. I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention in February and didn't see that Wiki page.
Look, we know what we want to do. (1) License the *copyright* freely as usual. (2) Restrict the *trademark* with traditional trademark restrictions only: it may not be used for deliberate "palming off", but may be used in any other way. (So, crap like trademark "dilution" and "defamation" we do want to give permission to do.) (3) Provide a model trademark license for upstreams to use. :-) Consensus is that traditional trademark restrictions are entirely compatible with free software, as they are entirely a matter of honesty. Name change and attribution clauses, which we allow routinely, are *more restrictive* than the basic trademark restrictions. If we explicitly permit the Open Use logo to be used to identify, oh, say, Red Hat Linux or Microsoft Windows, we are being idiots. And frankly some of the proposed licensing might do exactly that: waive trademark rights entirely. (The MIT/Expat license unfortunately does not specify that it is a copyright license.) We should set a good example, and that means retaining the trademark rights which make sense for free software and disposing of the rest. I think we actually have a strong case for a new license. I've made some proposals on the Wiki page ProposedTrademarkPolicy. Thinking further, I would propose this, though I don't like it perfectly (it's unclear thanks to being generic, unlike the ones on the Wiki page). I really think we need a lawyer, but the trouble is we're charting uncharted waters here, so they probably don't know any more than we do. Nathanael's Model Free Trademark License ---------------------------------------- The work [X] is a trademark, held by [Y], representing [Z]. The trademark holder hereby grants permission to any person to use the trademark (and derivative marks) in any way except one: you may not use it to falsely represent something else as being the thing represented by the trademark. This permission should be interpreted broadly: any use which is not clearly deceptive is permitted. The work is also subject to copyright, and is licensed under the copyright license below, but that is not a trademark license and should not be construed as one. ------- Potential usage examples follow. These are "paragraph one" descriptions, with the other two paragraphs identical to the above. (1) Debian Open Use The work called the "Debian Open Use Logo" is a trademark, held by SPI on behalf of the Debian Project, representing the Debian Project and the Debian distributions. (It represents Debian in any and all contexts, including works based on Debian, compatibility with Debian, criticism of Debian, comparison of other distributions with Debian, etc.) (2) Debian Official Use The work called the "Debian Official Use Logo" is a trademark, held by SPI on behalf of the Debian Project, representing endorsement by the Debian Project. (For informational purposes, the endorsement of the Debian Project applies to all unmodified copies of the official Debian distributions, the www.debian.org webpages, and possibly other things.) (3) Debian, the word The word "Debian" is a trademark, held by SPI on behalf of the Debian Project, representing the Debian Project and the Debian distributions. (It represents Debian in any and all contexts, including works based on Debian, slightly modified versions of Debian, criticism of Debian, comparison of other distributions with Debian, etc.) -- In this case, paragraph 3 would be omitted, since the word *isn't* covered by copyright. (4) Firefox logo (the way they seem to be using it lately) The work known as the Firefox logo is a trademark, held by the Mozilla Foundation, representing a build of the Firefox browser made by persons approved by the Mozilla Foundation from source code pre-approved by the Mozilla Foundation. (5) Firefox logo (the way it should have been) The work known as the Firefox logo is a trademark, held by the Mozilla Foundation, representing the codebase for the Firefox web browser, and any work closely based on it. ----------- Thoughts welcome. Also, please feel free to forward this to anyone who's doing something about the 'logo issues'. -- Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [Insert famous quote here] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
