Here's where we are, I'll try to cover all the bases.
mozilla.org needs a policy about use of these items. I've asked one of
the lawyers who helps mozilla.org to help prepare this, I expect to see
something quite soon. (I know a fair amount about trademark law, but a
policty should be prepared by someone actively working in this area, and
I no longer do.)
Here's what I'd like to see happen.
1. The name "Mozilla" and the orange dino artwork should not be "public
domain." People should not be able to use the Mozilla name or artwork
or name for things that have nothing to do with Mozilla, especially for
unrelated software. This would make things very confusing.
2. If the name and artwork are not "public domain" then it is
protectable under trademark/servicemark law. Trademark law has some
quirks about how trademarks should be treated and what people other than
the owner can do. (For example, when I was active in the area, U.S.
trademark law required that some sort of quality control be maintained
by the owner; I don't know if this has changed.) If these requirements
are not followed, it gets harder and harder to have the trademark mean
anything, and harder to stop someone who's doing lousy things with the mark.
3. The trademark policy for "Mozilla" and the orange dino should be
broad, flexible, and easily implemented. If possible, I want some
things to be self-implementing. That is, the website would have a set
of artwork and a set of things people can use the artwork for. I'm
sure there will also be uses that will require some involvement from
mozilla.org. Naturally, I'd like these to be as few as possible, as we
have plenty of other things to do. My understanding is that letting
people change the colors or style of trademarks/ logos is generally not
a good thing, so the policy probably won't allow this.
4. The policy should have enough teeth to actually protect "Mozilla"
and the artwork.
5. Frank points out the history of the orange dino. I too agree that
it is a good thing. I do not want to share a logo with Netscape, that
only adds confusion. However great the green mozilla is, use of the
same character for both Netscape and mozilla.org would be a bad thing.
Mitchell
Gervase Markham wrote:
> Cheers, Frank - I get it now :-)
>
> So, going back to the original question, what is mozilla.org's policy on
> people using the name "Mozilla" and the artwork (built into binaries and
> separate from it) when creating a derivative work? The MPL says nothing on
> this issue, and I think it needs clarifying now.
>
> Gerv
>
