Moblin -> MeeGo

[Paul W. Frields]

On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 10:16:38AM -0800, Jeff Spaleta wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 10:04 AM, Paul Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The reason is that MeeGo is a trademark owned by the Linux Foundation,
> > with its own set of usage guidelines -- which is what I wrote in my
> > first email. We are aiming to meet their requirements because we
> > respect their trademark guidelines the same way we expect others to
> > respect ours.
> >
> > Fedora spins have never had requirements around their naming other
> > than that their usage be approved by the Board, as a requirement for
> > using the Fedora trademarks.
> 
> 
> So given that this is the first interaction between our trademark
> policy and an external trademark policy... perhaps its appropriate to
> look at this as a chance to set up a style of naming as a better best
> practise convention for spin naming.   You can't future proof for all
> such interactions of course. But its good to have an understanding as
> to whether this naming form is meant to be an exception or a best
> practise moving forward.
> 
> First question:
> Does "The Whatever Spin by Fedora"  form hold value as a best practise
> for spin naming generally?

One way we can assess whether another party would accept such a
convention ("$X Spin by Fedora") is to see what the Linux Foundation's
counsel thinks of it.  I've sent a request to LF for their feedback.
Our own legal counsel didn't look unfavorably on that naming when I
propsed it.  If LF also finds it acceptable, that's another good data
point.  

We could suggest it to the legal list (where I believe at least a
couple of other attorneys lurk) for additional feedback.  What other
steps do you think would be appropriate to make this a best practice?

> Second question:
> Does this construction:"The MeeGo Spin by Fedora, a Fedora Remix"
> meet the multi-organizational guidelines as well allowing use of the
> secondary mark? And if so is this a potential best practise
> construction for spins that want to use the secondary fedora remix
> trademarks?

A Spin and a Remix are not the same thing, so this wouldn't be
appropriate IMHO.  It confuses the terms.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
          Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com