Re: [gentoo-nfp] Gentoo Trademark License (name/logo usage)

[Ulrich Mueller]

>>>>> On Fri, 20 Dec 2013, Sven Vermeulen wrote:

> After consultation with the Django Software Foundation board we
> decided to base our license on their text, of which the draft result
> is now available for review at
> http://dev.gentoo.org/~swift/tmp/gentoo-trademark.xml.

> We would appreciate that the new license is reviewed. We would
> really like to know if the new license is more clear (or not) than
> the previous one.

Some thoughts:

- The text switches between the terms "license" and "license
  agreement", obviously considering them as synonyms. While both terms
  are not very well defined, "license agreements" [1] or EULAs are
  often used to restrict the rights granted to users by law. However,
  in our case the purpose is to have a license [2] that in some cases
  allows usage of the (otherwise restricted) trademark.

  So, could the term "license" be used throughout? Especially in the
  page title and main heading?

- The first section heading is redundant (as it repeats the main
  heading). Maybe change it to "Preamble" or "Preliminaries"?

- In section "Gentoo-related software projects", how is the term
  "official Gentoo project software" defined?

- In the same section, it says "distributed under the terms of an
  OSI-approved open source license". So if I distribute my project
  under GPL for the code and CC-BY-SA for the documentation, then I
  cannot use the trademark, because CC-BY-SA is not in the OSI's list?

  I suggest to change the phrase to "distributed under a free license
  approved by the Free Software Foundation or the Open Source
  Initiative".

- Section "Products and services serving the community" says: "The
  website or product does not use the official Gentoo logo or color
  palette in its design, except as provided for by earlier sections in
  this license". The only relevant mention of the logo in such earlier
  sections seems to be in "Groups and Events" which has rather
  restrictive requirements (e.g., on the name of the group).

  So I wonder if that covers logo usage by the German Gentoo e.V. [3]?
  What about sites like znurt.org [4]?

- The current usage guidelines mention the Gentoo file manager
  (app-misc/gentoo) as an exception. This has been dropped in the new
  draft. Is the intention to restrict them in using the Gentoo name?
  AFAICS, their usage goes back to 1998 and therefore predates ours.

Ulrich

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license_agreement
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License
[3] https://www.gentoo-ev.org/wiki/Main_Page
[4] http://en.znurt.org/