[asterisk-biz] Open letter to digium, asterisk developers and consultants

[Trixter aka Bret McDanel]

On Mon, 2008-06-09 at 18:46 -0400, Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> 	We're not talking about the (engineering) design, we're talking about
> the trademark. I'm pretty sure that IBM protects the "IBM" trademark
> viciously wherever possible.


really that only serves as a distraction, whether or not IBM defends it,
whether or not they have a allowed use that people are using it under,
whether or not digiums policy is legally valid is all moot in my
opinion.  The saying "if everyone else jumped off a bridge would you"
seems to come to mind.

Digium has stated officially on their webpage that they have discovered
a loophole in the gpl and have written a policy underwhich you do not
have the gpl rights granted under the license.  This statement is in the
form of their trademark use policy and generally the list of things you
may not do, in addition the link exception policy.

Further stating that digium cant sue or otherwise discourage people from
doing what they dont want just because they dont have legal grounds is a
gamble, but also gives digium a way to escape from their stated policies
on the GPL, the developers that have contributed under it, and the
consultants that have pushed to get their products in more places.

I did not create their policy, I do not have the ability to change their
policy, all I can do is encourage people who want GPL rights to speak up
and demand that digium honor them.

-- 
Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
Belfast +44 28 9099 6461        US +1 516 687 5200
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