Suggestion..a man running with speed tracers behind him,,hint TheeMahn really likes that one.
Anyone who wants to help feel free....
Sorry for modding your post cowboy, I would just like them to have all the info...
The situation an email was recieved the 18th of october didn't see it until today after weeding through close to 600 of them:
Hi,
I'm Jane Silber, COO of Canonical. I wrote to you several months ago
about the use of the Ubuntu trademarks in your product and website but
didn't get a reply. I thought I'd send another message in the event
that for some reason you never received the first one.
While we greatly appreciate your enthusiasm for Ubuntu, and appreciate
the time and effort you devote to the project, I'm afraid there are
trademark related issues with your project. We've tried to define a
reasonable trademark policy that allows people to customise Ubuntu, and
use the marks to promote the project, while at the same preserving the
integrity of the marks. In case you haven't seen it, that policy is at
http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy
There are several distinct but related issues with the Ultimate
Edition and ubuntusoftware.info. Specifically,
- Ultimate Edition includes software which fundamentally is not
Ubuntu, and calling it such confuses people and damages the Ubuntu
project. People should know what they're getting when they install
something called Ubuntu. We certainly encourage people to make custom
versions of Ubuntu, and we have established the "remix" concept and
terminology to allow use of the trademark if the changes are minimal or
include only software from the Ubuntu repositories. But we can't let
something which is significantly different from Ubuntu (which your
product is) to be called Ubuntu. Hosting your own repositories also
means that people aren't using Ubuntu software. It is of course fine to
host repositories and distribute the software - the issue is that you
are attaching the brand, quality and assurance messages of the Ubuntu
marks to something which is not Ubuntu.
- the website itself is also misleading. We allow people to use the
word
Ubuntu in domains that are non-profit, community advocacy sites. But
your site is a promotional site for a different product (not Ubuntu, as
explained above). Additionally, it is designed and written in a way
which easily confuses people into thinking that it actually is from the
Ubuntu project. The use of the Ubuntu logo, the design, the domain
itself, the repositories all mislead people into thinking they are
using
Ubuntu.
I'm happy to talk about this on the phone if you prefer. I can call
you,
or I can be reached at +44 20 7630 2472. Again, I'd like to stress
that
we appreciate your enthusiasm for Ubuntu, and that the basic activities
of what you are doing is fine - it's one of the freedoms and powers
provided by open source software. But I'm afraid that using the Ubuntu
name and logo (in product name, on website, etc) to refer to your own
product/project (i.e, not Ubuntu) simply doesn't work and needs to be
changed.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Jane
--
Canonical Ltd http://www.canonical.com
Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com
27th Floor, 21-24 Millbank Tower, London, SW1P 4QP
+44 (0)20 7630 2472 (office)
+44 (0)20 7630 2401 (fax)
+44 (0)7899 891 943 (mobile)
My response:
Jane,
I am sorry it has taken so long to respond, I received no prior email, email was probably not setup at the time. It is usually quite busy around here. I am willing to work with you to rectify this situation, if you would like the name of the O/S changed this is not a problem, If you would like all traces of using the customised ubuntu logo, also not a problem, I do not profit from Ubuntu I have been asked to accept donations and have turned them down, stating "it should be free as in beer" I do describe in fairly good detail what they are downloading to be built using Reconstructor based on Ubuntu, is not of Canonical and provide Trademarks. I also provide a tutorial how to make your own.
Please explain in detail page by page if necessary what needs to be changed.
Best regards,
Their Response:
Hi,
Thanks for your response and for your understanding of the issue.
If what you are making is a new collection of things in the Ubuntu
repositories, then it is okay to call it "Ubuntu <description> Remix"
as
it is an adapted version of Ubuntu packages. But if you are including
things that aren't officially part of Ubuntu, then I'm afraid it is no
longer Ubuntu and is going to need a different name completely. For
example, I believe last year you made a version of Ubuntu that included
only software from the repositories but with a new Christmas-ish
artwork
theme - calling that the Ubuntu Christmas Remix is absolutely fine.
If you can get your project to fit the definition of a Remix, then you
can use the Ubuntu logo (for non-commercial reasons). But the site
would still need to be changed - right now the combination of the
prominent use of the logo, the ubuntusoftware domain, and the "Ubuntu
Software" in the top banner of the site all combine to make the site
look like it is the (or a part of the) official Ubuntu site. If you
look at the site through the eyes of a newcomer you'll see that it will
definitely confuse people into thinking this is the Ubuntu site. And
if
it's confusing, then you're probably doing something wrong. You need
to
make the site look like what it is - your site to distribute a remix
(but not a formal edition) of Ubuntu.
If your project isn't a Remix but rather a new project based on Ubuntu,
then you'll need a new name/logo for your project. You can still use
the
Ubuntu logo on the site to say "this is built on Ubuntu", but the
Ubuntu
logo shouldn't be the main identifier. For example, some folks have
made
Mint Linux (http://www.linuxmint.com/) based on Ubuntu. They are doing
something similar to you - i.e,. taking Ubuntu and making changes they
think are important (e.g., codecs). They recognise Ubuntu in the
"About" section, but there is no confusion with Ubuntu.
I would be happy to go through page-by-page with you, but to do so
would
need to know what the intention of the project is - is it something
that
can be called a Remix? Or is it a derivative of Ubuntu?
Thanks,
Jane
My response:
Jane,
I have totally redesigned the website replacing logos across all six sites renaming "Ultimate Edition" to simply Ultimate Edition separating Ubuntu all together, I have many pages I will have to re-write. I will however, give credit to Ubuntu in the about page; I hope this is what you were looking for, if there are any adjustments you feel I need to make please feel free to point them out.
Sorry it took so long I work 7 days a week and do this just to help others.
Best regards,
I have not at time received a response, but there will be changes coming.