On Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 10:04:07PM -0700, Claire Connelly wrote: > There are 9624 registered U.S. trademark designs incorporating > spirals.* Many of these are somewhat similar to one another; there > are typically other elements (e.g., colors, wordmarks, number, > arrangement) that differentiate them from one another.
> Taking a step back, though, I don't see evidence that Debian's > logos are trademarked at all, at least in the U.S. Searching the > USPTO database shows a single hit for Debian, for the word-only > mark ``Debian'' as applied to ``Computer Utility and Operating > System Software'' [0]. That trademark is held by SPI. > The detailed file [1] includes two sets of ``specimens'', one of > which is a screenshot of the Debian.org website showing the spiral > logo, but the other includes images of a CD and the docs for > Debian 1.3, which have a cute stack of letter blocks arranged to > spell Debian.** > So if the spiral logo isn't trademarked, then any infringement > claims related to the logo have to fall back on copyright, which > covers the specific expression and not the general theme. Under US law, trademarks exist when one trades on them, not just when one registers them. We *should* register the Debian logo as a trademark with the USPTO (and I think this is still under way... I hope?), but the continued delays in registration don't mean it's not a trademark, it just makes it harder to enforce it. But under trademark law, there's no reason to think that this city's video is infringing, since it's nowhere near the same field... -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]