Josh Triplett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> On the other hand, if you take the source code to GCC and format it >> into the shape of a Coca Cola trademark, then you can't use it for >> selling soft drinks. Does this mean that GCC is not free? > > No, no more than the fact that you can't modify the source to GCC to > contain the source to Visual C++ (even independently of the fact that > GCC is copyleft; I'm referring to the fact that you can't distribute the > source of Visual C++).
Sure I can. If I happen to independently reimplement Visual C++, then I own the copyright on that. Microsoft does not. > This does not apply, of course, to the one kind of requirement that > DFSG4 allows: requiring that derived works carry a different name. But trademarks are names. That's all they are -- not necessarily in roman characters or pronounceable, but names nonetheless. -Brian -- Brian Sniffen [EMAIL PROTECTED]