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“Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

anonscm.debian.org

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Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#11
post #4

No context. Seems petty? The issue was about the logo

Read the letter published by Ars[1], they refer not only to the logo but to the "Ubuntu word" (trademark of Canonical) and "to use the Ubuntu trademarks and Ubuntu word in a domain name would require approval from Canonical".

[1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/canoni...

Edit: formatting

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#12
post #3

I take it the Debian derivative from Canonical that cannot be named is sort of like a Prominent North American Enterprise Linux Vendor[0] for the average user? I'm curious if there's some sort of backstory to this. [0] http://www.pnaelv.net/

Here's the backstory: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/canoni...

Today I learned about http://www.fixubuntu.com.

Thanks Mark!

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#13
So Canonical started abusing trademark law to silence critics, by claiming they could only use the name Ubuntu with permission and in specific contexts. Debian, being the distro of freedom, is preemptively removing the trademarked name in order to make it impossible for Canonical to do the same to them.

While it is extremely unlikely that Canonical ever would, the point stands that they've done this at least once to others. By taking this action Debian is protecting their users from what they perceive as an IP threat.

While it may seem a little silly, I am very glad they're doing this if only because it's drawing attention to how far Canonical has gone with some of their whacky and controlling decisions.

Context, for those who want it- http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/canoni...

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#14
I'm no Canonical apologist, but they do have a "intellectual property" document and are quite clear about what they deem acceptable and what they don't.

They very specifically say you need permission in domains:

"You will require Canonical’s permission to use ... any Trademark in a domain name or URL or for merchandising purposes."

http://www.canonical.com/intellectual-property-policy

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#16
post #14

I'm no Canonical apologist, but they do have a "intellectual property" document and are quite clear about what they deem acceptable and what they don't. They very specifically say you need permission in domains: "You will require Canonical’s permission to use ... any Trademark in a domain name or URL or for merchandising purposes." http://www.canonical.com/intellectual-property-policy

Except that policies like that are completely meaningless in the face of the law. They are like the rules you used to make up as a kid.

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#17
post #14

I'm no Canonical apologist, but they do have a "intellectual property" document and are quite clear about what they deem acceptable and what they don't. They very specifically say you need permission in domains: "You will require Canonical’s permission to use ... any Trademark in a domain name or URL or for merchandising purposes." http://www.canonical.com/intellectual-property-policy

Who gives a crap about what they deem acceptable. That's definitely non-enforceable in cases like "ubuntusucks.com"

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#18
post #4

No context. Seems petty? The issue was about the logo

Petty as all heck on the part of Canonical, I agree.

It doesn't matter, trademark law requires you to pro-actively prosecute violators if you want to keep your trademark.

Although I still wish Canonical was more transparent about who gets to use its trademarks and who doesn't: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-community/+bug/394328

sp332: You're right, although it's not clear to me that this definitely is not a violation. I hope it isn't for the sake of free speech.

Re: “Remove occurrences of the short name of the Debian derivative from Canonical”

#19
post #13

So Canonical started abusing trademark law to silence critics, by claiming they could only use the name Ubuntu with permission and in specific contexts. Debian, being the distro of freedom, is preemptively removing the trademarked name in order to make it impossible for Canonical to do the same to them. While it is extremely unlikely that Canonical ever would, the point stands that they've done this at least once to…

I guess it's getting time to move upstream. Which is fine, I've never given a dime to Canonical, they can do what they want. But it's too bad, they were one of the best things to happen to Linux.
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