Trademarks: A threat tofree software's freedom? (NewsForge) [LWN.net]

Trademarks: A threat tofree software's freedom? (NewsForge)

Posted Nov 6, 2004 2:31 UTC (Sat) by Duncan (guest, #6647)
In reply to: Trademarks: A threat to free software's freedom? (NewsForge) by JoeBuck
Parent article: Trademarks: A threat to free software's freedom? (NewsForge)

I'm not a Debianite (I am a Gentooist), but as I have an interest in free
software remaining free, I tend to follow their debates on the subject to
some degree.

I'm not sure about the AbiWord case, but I know the Mozilla-Firefox policy
has been discussed on the Gentoo devel group. In that case, Firefox
restricts the use of their branding icons and the like as well as the
name, they claim (not unreasoanbly) due to concern over dilution of
trademark and reputation.

Thus, the question there in relation to the policy you quoted above would
be whether "name" includes other identifying "trademarks" such as icons
and the like. I'd suggest that it does, altho that's of course up to
Debian to decide. However, I can see a legitimate concern and debate over
what /could/ become a slippery slope. Once certain (admittedly
reasonable, altho not necessarily desirable) restrictions are allowed, as
with name, and now icon and other "trademark" artwork, there will always
be borderline cases. Just where is the line drawn as to what restrictions
are allowed and what not? In a uni-national context, one could simply
leave it up to the legal definition of trademark. However, in the
multi-national/international context of free software and the internet,
which nation's law applies? What if some nation institutes a law that
goes as far over the top in respect to trademarks as I'd guess most here
would agree the DMCA went over the top in respect to other "intellectual
property", copyrights? We can't let the arbitrarily over the top laws of
some renegade nation (and I say that as a USian) dictate equally
unreasonable over the top policies in general.

I'm glad to see this debate, as it's important to think about for all of
us that care about freedom of expression and the "free software world",
whether we agree on the details or not. As for my thoughts on where it's
all headed, see my response just posted to the original NewsForge article.

Duncan

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Trademarks: A threat tofree software's freedom? (NewsForge)

Posted Nov 6, 2004 3:07 UTC (Sat) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link]

Presumably, for the icons, distros could decide that the packages including the original icons are not free, and simply replace the trademarked icons with a distro-branded (or otherwise non-trademarked) set of icons. Names are possibly more of a problem, because it may not be easy to replace the names of programs and have anyone able to find them, or even be sure to change every occurance.

Does author of GPL software need to provide alternatives?

Posted Nov 8, 2004 15:55 UTC (Mon) by justme (guest, #19967) [Link]

AFAIK, Firefox is not GPL'd. But your example brings up a question: if an author of GPL'd software claims that certain parts of the source distribution (e.g. the icons) cannot be freely modified, then does the author need to provide alternate icons in order for there to be a source set that is completely buildable, modifiable, and redistributable?

Or is it assumed that anyone who wishes to modify the name and icons would modify them all together? That seems like a stretch.