43 replies to this topic 1 votes

[Tyler R.]

http://blogs.kde.org...tes-kde-artwork

Sony, the company who created Audio CDs which installed a rootkit on Windows computer to try to stop people copying music has pirated KDE artwork. The preferences-system.png icon from Oxygen is on their Choose your Vaio webpages (next to configure) but impressively is also on the UEFI firmware should you boot up into Assist mode. Nowhere on their website terms of use does it list the LGPL 3 licence it may be copied under (It does say "Any unauthorised use or copying of site content, or use of site content which breaches these Terms (or their spirit) may violate trade mark, copyright and other proprietary rights, and have civil and criminal consequences" although it also says "You must seek and obtain the written consent the operator of this site before creating any link to this site" so I don't give that page any legal credit.) Should KDE e.V. and Nuno's Oxygen friends start a new business model by sueing them for everything they're worth?


Oxygen icon on left. "Choose your Vaio" web page fragment on right.

Personally, I think they should give credit to them. It shouldn't come down to a lawsuit--they'd just be burnning money they can use to write more OSS. What do you guys think?

[Javik]

The icon under Software is also an exact copy of the default icon for .MSU files in Windows 7, I wonder if they paid Microsoft for a license to use that icon

[tiagosilva29]

If the content is licensed, you must abide with its license.

[TurboShrimp]

wait I thought Linux was all about open source , free to edit / change / pass along ect.. ect..

[sanctified]

TurboShrimp, on 21 February 2013 - 19:16, said:

wait I thought Linux GNU was all about open source , free to edit / change / pass along ect.. ect..

GNU/Linux, yes, as long as you give proper credits.

Is that wrong?

[+Fus10n]

^^ Not when you are profiting from it

[TurboShrimp]

its silly over just an icon.

if you visit Linux mint website you don't see them saying " hey thanks Ubuntu "

or UBUNTU under the hood . lol

if so you really need to search the site to find out.

point is its silly and either side is making money from it

Fus10n, on 21 February 2013 - 19:22, said:

^^ Not when you are profiting from it

do you have a source that shows how much money sony has made from the use of that icon ?

[sanctified]

TurboShrimp, on 21 February 2013 - 19:25, said:

its silly over just an icon.

if you visit Linux mint website you don't see them saying " hey thanks Ubuntu "

or UBUNTU under the hood . lol

if so you really need to search the site to find out.

point is its silly and either side is making money from it



do you have a source that shows how much money sony has made from the use of that icon ?

If you think this is just over an icon you're missing the point.

[tiagosilva29]

TurboShrimp, this is not about giving credit. This is about simply not following the terms of a license.
Here is a abridgement to help you understant the license in question: http://www.tldrlegal.com/l/LGPL3

[.Neo]

Did KDE get permission from Adobe to use their Acrobat logo for PDF files? As far as I know KDE doesn't ship with an official version of Adobe Acrobat.

[sanctified]

.Neo, on 21 February 2013 - 20:30, said:

Did KDE get permission from Adobe to use their Acrobat logo for PDF files? As far as I know KDE doesn't ship with an official version of Adobe Acrobat.

Since the open standarization of PDF back in 2008 Adobe also allowed the reproduction of the logo.

[Javik]

Images would set an interesting legal precedent... how does one provide the source code for an image?

[tim_s]

To be honest here,

This seems to be more about a mistake from a developer than Sony actively abusing their power. Clearly Sony has the capacity to make up a "icon" - to say otherwise is just silly. Not saying that Sony is or is not an "Evil" corporation but in this manner I am sure if any financial penalty is required by KDE, the matter will be properly handled.

Javik, on 21 February 2013 - 20:41, said:

Images would set an interesting legal precedent... how does one provide the source code for an image?

Images are protected under the copyright act.

[.Neo]

sanctified, on 21 February 2013 - 20:34, said:

Since the open standarization of PDF back in 2008 Adobe also allowed the reproduction of the logo.

Fair enough. I still find the whole thing questionable since KDE took quite a few ideas from Windows Aero.

[Javik]

I was of the opinion that most artwork included with open source projects like Linux distributions was free for use and redistribution?