[OSM-talk] License for OSM logo

Matt Amos zerebubuth at gmail.com
Tue Jul 7 13:44:38 BST 2009


On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 12:44 PM, Elena of
Valhalla<elena.valhalla at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 1:30 PM, Matt Amos<zerebubuth at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 11:38 PM, Phil
>> Endecott<spam_from_osm_talk at chezphil.org> wrote:
>>>    "the icon has the same license as most other stuff in the OSM
>>>    repository - GPLv2. [...]
>> please use it. the use case you've described is perfectly in keeping
>> with the intended use of the logo (i.e: it's relevant to OSM). what
>> sort of license do you need?
>
> he would need a (copyright) license to use GPL-covered work in a
> non-GPL software, and this is what I guess you just gave, and a
> trademark license to use a trademark that belongs to somebody else

i'm interested to find out if the logo will end up in a closed-source
product. i have no problem with that, and will/have grant(ed) the
license anyway, but i wonder if CC BY-SA wouldn't be a better license
than GPLv2.

>> is your app closed-source?
>
> I believe that the iPhone/iTunes store terms aren't really compatible
> with opensource licenses, expecially copyleft ones

apple's store says you can't give away the source? i thought they'd
removed all that developer secrecy nonsense from their Ts&Cs.

>> just ignore the trademark stuff - no-one is going to sue you.
>
> this is very bad advice: trademark owners are forced to sue people who
> use their logo without authorization, or they risk losing it

consider my preceding remark, along with "the use case you've
described is perfectly in keeping with the intended use of the logo
(i.e: it's relevant to OSM)" to constitute a guideline for automatic
permission. you may now argue about whether i'm allowed to do that.

> Am I right believing that after the transfer issue is resolved, we are
> going to get said guidelines, and it's mostly a matter of time?

i think so. despite widespread belief in evilness, the usual reason
why stuff doesn't happen quickly is that things are more complex and
time-consuming than they first appear.

cheers,

matt




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