matthiasblaesing commented on issue #289: [NETBEANS-126] Replace with trademark free icons URL: https://github.com/apache/incubator-netbeans/pull/289#issuecomment-346683201 I see two distinct problems we need to solve: 1. Copyright: Are we allowed to use artwork and 2. Trademarks: Are we allowed to use a "symbol" and "name" I read some more and (I'm not a lawyer and I know that quoting from wikipedia is questionable): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use_(U.S._trademark_law) > A nonowner may also use a trademark nominatively?to refer to the actual trademarked product or its source. In addition to protecting product criticism and analysis, United States law actually encourages nominative usage by competitors in the form of comparative advertising. Some more, that might better hold up: https://www.inta.org/TrademarkBasics/FactSheets/Pages/Fair-Use-of-TrademarksNL.aspx > Nominative fair use generally is permissible as long as (1) the product or service in question is not readily identifiable without use of the trademark, (2) only so much of the mark as is reasonably necessary to identify the product or service is used and (3) use of the mark does not suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark owner. My reading: The trademark part would be ok, as it is the intention to refer to the product itself and it is required to be quickly recognizable. The remaining thing is copyright: We don't know where the icons come from. They were distributed with netbeans, but they could be distributed with the source as "fair use". So I could live with just readding the icons (#251) or taking the icons from another source under a compatible license. **Edit:** I would then close the legal ticket.
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