proposal to make free the logo of Fedora

inode0 inode0 at gmail.com
Fri Sep 17 23:06:44 UTC 2010


On Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 2:34 AM, Jesse Keating <jkeating at redhat.com> wrote:
> On 09/17/2010 03:09 PM, inode0 wrote:
>> Misappropriation suggests to me it wasn't freely licensed, but was
>> rather freely available. That isn't the same thing and could happen to
>> us right now as well although we make getting the source slightly more
>> of a bother.
>
> The problem is not that they used it.  The problem is that with a freely
> licensed logo we would be unable to /stop/ them from using it using
> legal means.  With a proper license on the usage we have legal resources
> to compel them to stop using the logo.

The entire point of a free license is *allow* others to use it.
Perhaps use of the word logo here is the problem because we have a
fairly ingrained natural instinct to want to protect that. This image
is really just a secondary image, different from all our marks, that
is associated with the project and free for others to use in cases
like the one that began this thread where a free image is necessary.
Could it too be abused in unpleasant ways? Yes. Could our distribution
be abused in unpleasant ways? Yes. With freedom comes risk.

John


More information about the advisory-board mailing list