----- Original message -----
> Hi,
>
> In the interests of clarity, let's make sure we're all talking about the
> same thing...
>
> Randall Arnold wrote:
> > "Adrian Yanes" said:
> > > Remember that MeeGo's Logo has copyright..
> >
> > Ahh... "non-free", and a trademark symbol in the upper right corner.
> >
> > hopefully we'll still get a fair use/re-use policy that isn't very
> > restrictive... ...
>
> copyright = the specific expression of the thing. Copyright covers the
> file linked here, and its contents.
>
> Fair use is a concept of US copyright law - a use of copyright material
> is "fair use" if you are extracting parts of the copyrighted work for a
> small number of uses:
> * Criticism: Using the works of another to support a point in another
> critical work
> * Academic use
> * Parody or satire
> * Use of a very small amount of the copyrighted work in an unrelated
> work ("de minimis")
>
> Many of these fair uses have become undemined recently - especially the
> "de minimis" bit. See http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/digital.php
> for a comic illustration.
>
> Trademark is an unrelated issue, which it is not useful to conflate.
>
> The MeeGo trademark is owned by the Linux Foundation, and refers to
> something in particular. Specifically, it refers to "operating system
> and application implementations which pass the MeeGo compatibility
> test". So you can always refer to OS & application implementations which
> pass the MeeGo compatibility test as "MeeGo". Trademarks apply to a
> specifically described thing, in a specific market.
>
> There's no problem having a plumber and a restaurant with the same name,
> unless there's a real potential for confusion of the services of one or
> the other.
>
> The MeeGo logo is, presumably, a graphical trademark referring to the
> same thing - an OS + applocation implementation.
>
> The Linux Foundation has a legal obligation to ensure that the MeeGo
> trademark is used correctly, or the trademark is lost (meaning, they
> won't be able to insist it is used in a specific context any more). Any
> use which is outside "calling the thing by its name" requires trademark
> licencing. This might be using the MeeGo mark in fan sites, or for
> t-shirts & badges, hacking the MeeGo name & mark to talk about related
> stuff, whatever. We could imagine a forked project that wanted to call
> itself "MeeGone" which would be infringing the trademark - there is a
> potential for confusion between the two projects, the name is obviously
> derived, so the Linux Foundation would have to do something in this case
> - either give a licence or ask that the project change its name.
>
> They may extend permission in a wider sense for a number of other uses,
> with a Trademark usage policy, which will say, for example, that
> non-commercial web sites dedicated to MeeGo systems may use MeeGo in
> their name, with some conditions on not denigrating the mark or bringing
> the project into disrepute, let's say, then I could start a "MeeGo
> Devices" site without explicit permission. This is, presumably, what you
> mean by a "re-use policy", Randall.
>
> The easiest way to think about the difference between copyright &
> trademark is to think of physical objects - something like a Mars bar.
>
> Anyone can call a Mars bar a Mars bar. I don't need a trademark
> agreement to point at a Mars and say "That's a Mars bar".
>
> But if I take a Mars bar, and put a different wrapper on it, and call it
> the Dave bar, then I'm falsely representing someone else's work as my
> own, and that is a copyright violation.
>
> On the other hand, if I make a home-made caramel, nougat & chocolate bar
> that I call a Mars bar, I'm using the Mars name to sell something
> similar but different, that's a trademark violation.
>
> Anyway - given the potential for confusion, and with the huge qualifier
> that I am not a lawyer, I thought it'd be useful to explain the
> difference between these two concepts. When talking about the MeeGo
> logo, copyright only covers the actual logo, the trademark covers a lot
> more.
>
> Cheers,
> Dave.
>
> --
I already knew all that but no doubt that was useful in general. ;)
I didn't mean to cause any confusion with an offhand reference to the trademark
symbol. Anyway looks like we'll be seeing progress on this!
Randy
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