[Design-team] summary of my meeting with Pam Chestek yesterday

[Klaatu]

> The second reason is more pragmatic.  As it is, we find unauthorized
> uses fairly commonly.  People create their own design files for the
> trademarks, but they can often be recognized because of the errors made
> in creating the imitation.  Using a freely available font will make it
> easier for copyists to create a more exact representation of our logo,
> which we don't want.  The current font is a bit of sand in the engine
> that helps us protect the uniqueness of our mark.

This might be a purely academic point..  I understand not wanting to
go re-doing all the branding of Fedora and swapping out the font used
in the logo.  I think having a new official font that is
similar-but-free is a great work-around.

BUT... the idea that keeping a logo "proprietary" will help prevent
its falsification..?  This sounds quite strange to me in that it is
directly contrary to the theory behind Free Software.

Besides, I don't think it's true.  Whether I have to find a download
of Bryant2 on fr33f0nts.ru or navigate the Fedora wiki for comfortaa,
it feels like the same amount of effort to me, and they both result in
what is probably going to be a poorly-done imitation of a well-known
brand without any real indication of official backing.  The key is to
make sure we are teaching Fedora users to be discerning about who and
what they trust on the big scary internets.

Just my initial thoughts on the topic.  :-)

-- klaatu









>>
>> == Logo distribution ==
>>
>> All SVG files containing the Fedora wordmark or the Infinity design logo
>> will continue to be distributed by request by emailing
>> logo at fedoraproject.org.
>>
>> The remaining logos (at this point Foundations and FUDCon) will be
>> distributed through a tarball that may be downloaded via HTTP from
>> somewhere on fedoraproject.org. Although these logos are still Fedora
>> trademarks, Legal is not worried about rampant misuse of these logos,
>> but we will still be sure to enforce the proper use of our trademarks.
>>
> Just to explain the thinking, we're pretty clear in all the information
> we provide about when and how someone has permission to use our logos,
> so the fact that someone gets their hands on an svg (or png for that
> matter) can't be construed as permission to use the logo.  But
> restricting access to the logos is one tool that, on a practical level,
> limits people's ability to use our logos without permission.  Given the
> importance of the Fedora and infinity logos, putting some controls on
> how easy it is to get exact representations makes sense.  With respect
> to the FUDCon and Foundations logos, though, at the moment we don't
> really see those being used improperly, and its much easier for everyone
> who has legitimate need if we put up the svg files, so that's
> worthwhile.  If we see these files getting used improperly frequently,
> we can revert to the same practice we have for the Fedora and infinity
> logos, but we don't need to for now.
>
> Pam
> _______________________________________________
> design-team mailing list
> design-team at lists.fedoraproject.org
> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/design-team
>



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