linuxaudio.org

Hi Jon,
Thanks for the rapid reply!
>  But please understand that I

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> (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

quoted text
> 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

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> 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

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> 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

quoted text
> 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