On Monday 10 November 2003 22:46, Eli Billauer wrote:
> What they seem to be doing, is to restrict the use of their trademarks,
> so if I want my server to answer "Red Hat Linux", I have to pay for that
> luxury. If I'm ready to run a completely identical system, that answers
> "Pink Tie Mushmush", noone can stop me from that.
> ... [rest of good arguments skiped] ...
My problem is that they extended their realm into Fedora which
was supposed to stay a community project. Since they own the
trademark for it, they may set and change the terms of its use
any time they want (e.g: if/when it becomes too popular).
So, after we get used to "Fedora" as a codename for:
"RedHat code without the brand name and no support"
It suddenly may become a "forbidden" word.
Your idea of finding a "free" name for it would help just a little.
Not long ago RedHat threatened CD distributors (e.g: cheapbytes.com)
in legal actions because they used the name RedHat for the iso images
they sold. Now, while protecting their brand against "leeches" is fine,
we should not forget:
- Those "leeches" helped establish the RedHat name a long time
before broadband was common (I still have my old cheapbytes
RedHat-4.2 cd's).
- Cheapbytes specifically renamed their CD's to "Pink Tie Linux"
(Eli? Are you associated with them? :-)
I don't know how effective are those evasive manuevers and I don't like
to use them. They may be OK as a temporary workaround for this insta-party
due to time constraints, but they are NOT OK as a solution.
If Fedora trademark gave *irevocable* rights to the community to use the
name I would go for it, so can call things:
- This is a "Fedora" copy
- This program is compatible with "Fedora" version x
- This is "Fedora" with extra hebrew software and configuration
Currently, RedHat may change their mind every day and decided for example
that "modified Fedora software cannot claim to be *based* on Fedora, blah,
blah, blah". This is risky to a community project.
Bye,
--
Oron Peled Voice/Fax: +972-4-8228492
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.actcom.co.il/~oron
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