Will Firefox no longer be named Firefox?

[John Mark Walker]

On Sep 25, 2006, at 6:32 PM, Michael V. De Palatis wrote:

> On 9/25/06, m c <markc.lists at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> Mozilla have to enforce their trademarks or they will lose them, same
>> for all companies, including the Ubuntu and Debian trademarks and
>> logos.
>
> Okay, but this is supposed to be free software. Free as in freedom.
> Free as in no trademarks, copyrights, etc. Free as in you can do with
> it what you wish, provided whatever you do with it is also free (well,
> at least when a GPL or similar license is used). It's really a deeply
> important issue, and Mozilla here is acting ridiculously. It should
> either be free or it should not be, not something outrageously "in
> between."

You must be joking...

Let's see you merge your own personal patchsets into various Debian  
packages, without approval, and then distribute the core tools with  
your merged patches, calling it Debian and using their logo. We'll  
see how far you get before somebody smacks you. Same for Ubuntu.

Free software is not inherently opposed to the idea of intellectual  
property. In fact, it relies on it for success. Without the  
protections of copyright and trademark, free software would not be  
where it is today.

There is the idea among free software enthusiasts that our current  
copyright and patent laws are in need of serious reform, and while I  
agree wholeheartedly, that is a different discussion altogether.

-John Mark