[vorbis-dev] A "powered by OGG Vorbis" icon?

[Conrad Parker]

On Fri, Jun 27, 2003 at 07:43:42PM -0700, David E. Weekly wrote:
> This seems kind of backwards, a sort of inverse to the BSD advertising
> clause.

<IANAL>

no; for source licenses, it's a common part of the BSD variant that
Xiph.org uses:

    - Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its
    contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
    this software without specific prior written permission.

For the logos and names, it is in Xiph.org's interest to retain trademarks
in order to prevent others from for example calling a completely different
audio codec "vorbis"; but there's nothing preventing you from referring to
"Vorbis" as long as you don't claim it as your own trademark (the same
goes for other trademarks like "Linux" and "Apache"). To deal with this
properly, include a statement like "All marks are the properties of their
respective owners" on your web pages (see for example the Apache Foundation
Licensing FAQ, http://www.apache.org/foundation/licence-FAQ.html). Using
a trademark is different to referencing it; a web page would only reference
it.

However a piece of software wishing to display one of Xiph's logos
currently needs permission. I asked Monty for permission to use the logos
in Sweep[1], and that was granted without any fuss; as long as someone is
responding to such requests, there's nothing inherently evil about this
restriction.

Although Xiph.org may want to retain control over absolute use of the
logos, they can create derived marks such as "powered by" icons with more
liberal usage rules. It may be in Xiph.org's interests to promote usage of
the logos in a manner similar to Apache's:

    http://httpd.apache.org/docs/misc/FAQ.html#logo

Anyway, I'm neither a lawyer or a Xiph.org representative, just a random
Ogg hacker :)

Conrad.
www.metadecks.org

[1] http://www.metadecks.org/software/sweep/images/screenshots/tour/oggvorbis_abr.png
</IANAL>

> 
> I'd think it would be to OGG's great advantage to have people touting the
> glories of Vorbis and Speex everywhere. :)
> 
> But that's just my opinion.
> 
> And until OGG thinks otherwise, our site will continue (sadly) to have nary
> a mention, whisper, or hint of the lovely pieces of codec technology that
> sit within. (Which makes very little sense to me, but so be it.)
> 
> -david
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Segher Boessenkool" <segher at koffie.nl>
> To: <vorbis-dev at xiph.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 6:10 AM
> Subject: Re: [vorbis-dev] A "powered by OGG Vorbis" icon?
> 
> 
> > Jack Moffitt wrote:
> > >>As a developer for a company that uses OGG's Vorbis & Speex codecs, it
> would
> > >>be nice if there were small, cute, professional-looking "powered by"
> icons
> > >>we could use on our website for these codecs. Do these exist?
> > >
> > > Not yet, but they are on the list.  See our last monthly meeting minutes
> > > for a pointer to the current graphics work.
> >
> > "Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its
> > contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
> > this software without specific prior written permission."
> >
> > "Ogg, Vorbis, Xiph.org Foundation and their logos are trademarks(tm)
> > of the Xiph.org Foundation".
> >
> > Can't use The One Fish logo, nor any of the Names, without written
> > permission, at least not in advertisements for a software product.
> >
> >
> > Segher
> >
> >
> > --- >8 ----
> > List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
> > Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/
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> 'vorbis-dev-request at xiph.org'
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> > Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
> >
> 
> 
> --- >8 ----
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