On Mon, 2009-03-23 at 12:23 +0000, Nicolas Dufour wrote:
I know it has already been discussed before, but I can't find any conclusion.
We (me and Elisa) need to use the Inkscape logo in two contexts: .. to create a customized logos for the inkscape-fr and planet Inkscape-fr websites; .. in a book we're currently writing, adapted in our drawings.
All of these uses need that the logo allows modifications, and the last one no commercial limitation. We plan to release our work very shortly and we really need to know what to do.
Honestly, there isn't a good clean answer right now to that question.
We have filed for a trademark on the logo and name, hopefully that will be granted. We don't yet have a trademark policy. I've asked SFLC if they have a generic one that we could use, as we're not interested in being overly protective, more that we're interested in making sure others don't sue us for using our own name. But, that is a work in progress.
The copyright on the implementation of the logo has not been consolidated. There are several people who have worked on the implementation, I believe that all of them would be happy with people using their work to promote Inkscape. That was their goal. The logo has been shipped with Inkscape for several years with the whole package being stated as GPL.
So, from a legal perspective, it's unclear. But, I think (IANAL), that as long as you use the logo in good faith to promote and improve the Inkscape project you'll not run into any problems.
--Ted