openSUSE:Trademark guidelines use cases
What this page is for
We're collecting use cases for use of the openSUSE marks (trademarks, logos, etc.). We're especially interested in cases that are not described in the openSUSE Trademark Guidelines.
Clarifications
Is there something unclear in the guidelines, where you're not sure about your use case? Detail it here.
- Difference between openSUSE Marks and trademarks
- If trademarks mean registered trademarks, which are registered among all of the openSUSE Marks ? Or, all the openSUSE Marks are equal to trademarks in this guideline ?
- If YaST is considered a trademark, the description "In making such a distribution, you must remove all trademark uses of the openSUSE Marks from the version of openSUSE you are modifying, and must use your own trademark instead"(Distributing openSUSE With Project-Based Modifications) means that we can't use the word "YaST" in such distributions. But IIRC, 'YaST' is an opensource software and its name can be re-distributable.
- So, we have to clarify which are the registered trademarks and hence must be removed from such distributions, and which are not. --HeliosReds 04:01, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
Actually there is no difference between registered and unregistered trademarks in terms if they need permission to be used or not. So regardless of the registration state, all openSUSE Marks are owned by Novell and as such are covered in the same way by these guidelines. --Cschum 08:16, 30 December 2010 (MST)
- Modification and re-distribution of the openSUSE Marks
- I can't find descriptions about modification and re-distribution of the openSUSE Marks in this guideline. Such uses are considered ones of 'All Other Uses' and therefore we need to ask permissions each time ? --HeliosReds 04:01, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
The trademarks apply to what you use it for, so a modification and re-distribution of the trademarks as such doesn't exist, but all the use cases from the guidelines apply. Everything else is covered by the "all other uses". --Cschum 08:16, 30 December 2010 (MST)
- Who are the 'individuals in the openSUSE Project'?
- In 'Events' section, we can see the terms 'individuals in the openSUSE Project'. Actually, who are the 'individuals in the openSUSE Project'? Members approved by the Board ? Novell employees who are dedicated to the openSUSE Project ? Or, everyone who want to be a part of the openSUSE Project ? --HeliosReds 04:01, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
Too restrictive
Is there something too restrictive in the guidelines? Detail the use case here with information on how it would benefit the community to loosen the restriction.
- openSUSE goldmaster version + updates not allowed to use openSUSE trademark
The trademark guidelines - if read accurate - don't allow the usage of the openSUSE trademarks if you take a goldmaster version of openSUSE plus the official updates to date. This seems to strict
- Custom Live ISOs not allowed to use openSUSE trademark
Since it is impossible to create a live installation (with Suse Studio or Kiwi) of openSuse without modifying the official ISO distribution, it should be allowed to call a derivative work "openSuse Linux" and use the logo if only the official repositories/packages of openSuse are used. It is impossible to create a Live distribution without using different package sets from the original version or make some minor modifications.
- Which minor modifications are allowed?
It's unclear if to add a wallpaper, for example, that's not on the official repo would oblige you too clear all the oS trademarks. --Jeancayron 18:51, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
- Copy binary files without using the RPM
If you make a localized live-CD, for a matter of place, you must copy the *.mo files from the desired locale without installing it from the RPM (because RPM's ship translation from other languages that make the image too large). If you take these files from an "official" installation from "official" repos, is it considered to brake the guidelines an ask for permission? It's unclear. --Jeancayron 18:51, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
Not restrictive enough
Is there something in the guidelines that allows automatic usage where we shouldn't? Detail the use case here with how it damages the community to allow that type of use automatically.
Missing marks, etc.
If there's something that should be trademarked that isn't in the guidelines, let us know here.
Miscellaneous
If you have some opinions or proposals for the guidelines, let us know here.
- I'm perfectly happy with the branding policies, using the upstream branding and all that. The problem I'm having is that it is impossible to build appliances in SUSE Studio with an "unbranded" YaST! The pattern dependencies, etc. mean if you have a desktop - *any* desktop - you have YaST, and if you have YaST, you have openSUSE branding! There is no "Yast-branding-upstream". So it's impossible to create an appliance with YaST that meets the guidelines. --znmeb 09:41 7 January 2010 (PST)
- The guidelines are currently relatively strict about modified openSUSE versions. Wouldn't it be good to have something like a "weak" trademark which can be used more freely. So that I could for example call my openSUSE version where I updated KDE to the latest version something like "openSUSE powered" or "smells like openSUSE" or "once was openSUSE" or whatever? This would give openSUSE more visibility. --Cschum 10:31, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
- We need some way to distinguish whether special permissions are given or not
- People cannot easily distinguish whether permissions are given or not for the use cases that are not automatically permitted.
- IMHO, we need easy-to-reference evidences or histry of what are permitted specially, or, some credits that indicate the use is specially permitted by Novell(or openSUSE Project?).
- For example: If someone uses openSUSE Marks with a special permission by Novell, (s)he has to add the credit "The openSUSE logo is a trademark of Novell. The use of the openSUSE logo in this {site,book,magazine,etc} is permitted by Novell." somewhere in his (or her) {site,book,magazine,etc}.
- If we don't have some way to distinguish whether special permissions are given or not, people can easily misunderstand that unrestricted use of openSUSE Marks are allowed.
- --HeliosReds 06:01, 7 March 2009 (UTC)