TM & GPL?

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icebreaker
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TM & GPL?

Post by icebreaker » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:18 am

Doesn't Tradmarking the Joomla name constitute making a free application under the terms of the GPL and the Free Software Foundation a propritary application, whereby breaking the rules of the GPL? I wanted to add Joomla as a site partner but a Trademark forbids be from doing so with out permission of the owner. No one owns mambo according to the GPL so how can some claim ownership the name of joomla, that only constitutes a fork in the code?

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brian
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Re: TM & GPL?

Post by brian » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:19 am

There is a big difference between a trademark and a license (GPL)

The GPL covers the rights you have to use the code - alicence

The trademark covers the name and under trademark law you have certain rights granted to you to use that name. This is usualy explained by the legal doctrine of "fair use".

A trademark protects a name and a licence protects the code. They are not in conflit with each other.

I am not a lwayer (IANAL) and if you are really concerned about this then you should consult a profesional legal advisor. (Note I said a professional lawyer and not a slashdot seudo expert)

Brian
"Exploited yesterday... Hacked tomorrow"
Blog http://brian.teeman.net/
Joomla Hidden Secrets http://hiddenjoomlasecrets.com/

icebreaker
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Re: TM & GPL?

Post by icebreaker » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:14 pm

Either way you look at it if somone chooses to fork the project like a8emambo the license (GPL) gives them the freedom to modify the code and the name, look at all the linux variants out there: Debian, RedHat, etc. But I stand by Joomla.

So how many years did you study law, you sound like a good attorney to me ;)
Last edited by icebreaker on Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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manuman
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Re: TM & GPL?

Post by manuman » Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:59 am

icebreaker wrote: Either way you look at it if somone chooses to fork the project like a8emambo the license (GPL) gives them the freedom to modify the code and the name, look at all the linux variants out there: Debian, RedHat, etc.
And thats the beauty of Open Source :)
Shayne Bartlett - Joomla Co-Founder
CTO/Web Architect: Elastik Limited https://elastik.space


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