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Debian trademark policy under question (News.com)

[Posted September 22, 2005 by cook]

News.com covers possible changes to the Debian trademark policy. "The leader of the Debian Linux distribution has called for changes to be made to the open-source project's trademark policy, to ensure it has the appropriate level of protection against legal challenges. Debian's current trademark policy states that businesses can use the Debian trademark if they make a CD of the Debian version of Linux, but cannot use Debian in the name of their business. Branden Robinson, Debian's project leader, said on Tuesday that this policy needs an update."

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Here's hoping...

Posted Sep 26, 2005 14:56 UTC (Mon) by Max.Hyre (subscriber, #1054) [Link]

I'm hoping that the Debian folks can do for trademark policy what the Debian Free Software Guidelines did for determining whether a program is Free or not. Unfortunately, as clearly explained in Mr. Robinson's text, trademark is a much more complex beast, both in the legal requirements and details, and in the reason for having one in the first place. Best wishes to everyone involved.