Re: [gentoo-nfp] Re: foundation update...

[Chris Gianelloni]

On Thu, 2005-09-15 at 16:31 +0200, Paul de Vrieze wrote:
> On Thursday 15 September 2005 15:21, Chris Gianelloni wrote:
> > On Wed, 2005-09-14 at 19:08 +0200, Sven Vermeulen wrote:
> > > Many sites consider the g-logo a community logo and feel that they are
> > > free to use it any way they like, including offering t-shirts and such
> > > that "look" official but have no link whatsoever with the Gentoo
> > > Foundation.
> >
> > What they consider and what is actual fact aren't exactly the same
> > thing.  I've noticed a few sites myself.  There are also still *many*
> > sites selling the Gentoo Games GameCD images.  While I don't know what
> > our legal standing is on these, the Enemy Territory GameCD was made
> > illegally by Daniel et al without the permission of Id Software.
> > Basically, people continuing to put out and offer this CD is a black eye
> > on Gentoo, since Gentoo Games (the defunct company) is still associated
> > heavily with Gentoo Linux and the Gentoo Foundation.  Yeah, it sucks,
> > but it is the truth.
> >
> > Going back, I have noticed that two of the sites that I contacted,
> > linuxit.com.au and xplinux.biz have removed the offending CD images from
> > their site.
> >
> > http://www.iso4linux.com/product_info.php/cPath/23/products_id/40
> >
> > This site is still selling the CD illegally.  I am sending them an email
> > now.  My email is as follows:
> >
> > "Hello,
> >
> > I just wanted to inform you that the CD image offered on your site at
> > http://www.iso4linux.com/product_info.php/cPath/23/products_id/40 was
> > produced without the express permission of Id Software and is illegal to
> > redistribute.  The CD was originally created for Gentoo Games, Inc.
> > Please remove this CD image from your site.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Chris Gianelloni
> > Gentoo Games Team"
> >
> > As you can see, I make no threats of any kind, but simply inform the
> > site owners of the legal status of the CD.
> >
> > Should I continue doing this?  One of the main reasons is I wish to
> > revive "Gentoo Games" not as a commercial entity of any kind, but rather
> > as a community site geared towards open source gaming.  The idea would
> > be to offer new GameCD images of open source games on the site.  Because
> > of this, I'd like to try my best to clean up the mess left from the
> > previous "Gentoo Games" before doing any other work on this.
>
> Just be aware that in this case the violation is not of the trademark
> (assuming the iso's are unchanged), but of the ID distribution policy. One
> point though is that the logo's on the actual CD's must follow the
> guidelines.

You'll notice I didn't mention anything about our trademark, as these
were done under the "Gentoo Games" moniker and use that logo, rather
than the "g" logo.  The sites are using the "g" logo for "Gentoo Linux"
though, but I'm not so much interested in that as "cleaning up our
sullied name" in regards to the Id thing.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead/QA Manager
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux