[Consortium] Re: Linux trademark fees for non-profit organisations

[Daniel James]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the rapid reply!

>  But please understand that I
> (Jon "maddog" Hall), have spent close to 100,000 USD of my personal
> funds, as well as another 200,000 USD of Linux International's
> money, defending the Linux Trademark around the world so that user
> groups like yours can use it.  LI is broke, and so am I.

I thought that might be the reason for the initiative, and I welcome 
the support of OSDL for the protection of the Linux trademark. 
However, I think the way that this is being handled, with the threat 
of legal action against legitmate non-profit Linux groups who don't 
pay up, is wrong.

From http://www.linuxmark.org/other_people_usage.html :

"If you know of entities or persons using the Linux mark without a 
license and without the required legend, please notify us with the 
details. We will then contact that entity or person and attempt to 
negotiate a license agreement with them, or will take such other 
further legal action as might be necessary."

If LMI had styled the fundraising initiative as a 'Linux trademark 
defence fund' then I believe it would be received more positively - 
and I don't think it's too late to do that. 

> OSDL and its corporate sponsors are not "taxing" the use of the
> word Linux.

That's how it might appear from the outside. LMI says is registered in 
Beaverton and its site is hosted on an OSDL server, so it appears to 
be a de facto part of OSDL.

> We are looking to expand
> the board, taking more people from the community, not from OSDL,
> and trying to get some non-USA input into this also.

That would be a good idea. Have you asked Bruce Perens? It was his 
concern about the Debian-compatibility of the LMI sublicence that 
brought this matter to our attention.

> I think there has to be some payment, as it costs money to
> administer the MARK, which is part of what the law says you have to
> do to protect it.

Sure, but US $200 every year might be a lot for a group with no 
income, particularly in the third world. But if a business wants to 
incorporate the word Linux into its name, then you've got a clear 
case. 

> If there was no charge whatsoever, then tens of 
> thousands of people might try to register names "just in
> case"...sort of like URL cybersquatting. 

Given the cost of the trademark application itself, I don't think 
that's very likely. An extra $200 wouldn't be much of a deterrent.

I believe the best way to enforce the trademark is to get a community 
consensus behind the effort, and LMI won't be able to do that if it 
alienates most of the user groups and developer organisations with a 
blunt approach to the collection of licensing fees.

As far as linuxaudio.org is concerned, we could help that effort by 
putting 'LINUX® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds' on our 
site. I believe our use of the name is covered by the fair use 
provisions outlined on the page:

http://www.linuxmark.org/who_needs.html

However, the actual licence text, by setting an annual fee for 
non-profits, seems to contradict it's own fair use provisions. 

Cheers!

Daniel