CollabNet recently got an inquiry from someone regarding the use of
the Subversion name and logo. Below is the response we sent. We'd
like to run it by the dev@ list, in case anyone has comments.
Now, before a million "I am not a lawyer, but..." reactions come in:
Yes, we know about trademark law :-). The real issue here is not
trademarks, but rather the bad publicity that would accrue to someone
who misused the name or logo, because the community would jump all
over them. So we tried to clarify to this fellow what is and isn't
community-accepted behavior w.r.t. the name and logo.
In other words, I'm not posting here to ask a legal question, but a
social one: Do people think our response expressed the appropriate
sentiment?
Thanks,
-Karl
attached mail follows:
> We are a vendor building on subversion technology. I like to as if we
> could use the subversion Logo on our page or are their any
> restrictions. If yes which? Also I like to link for further
> information on subversion to trigris.org area.
Dear [Anonymized Recipient],
If you are using/distributing Subversion in an unmodified form, then
there is no problem with you using the Subversion name or logo. If,
however, you have modified the Subversion code, then we ask that you not
use the name or logo because that would dilute the Subversion identity
and introduce confusion into the community.
As for linking to subversion.tigris.org, yes, we encourage and
appreciate such links.
Regards,
CollabNet, Inc.
Tim Cloonan
650-228-2584 voice
650-228-2501 fax
415-748-1389 mobile
www.collab.net
Distributed Software Development On Demand
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Received on Mon Jan 31 23:16:14 2005