I think you misunderstand the GPL and it's application to Mepis and other distros.
The software in Mepis is Free Software licensed under the GPL. As the threads you quote point out, if someone wants to pay you for GPL software, take the money.
However, the GPL only covers copyrighted software. It does not cover trademark. Trademarked items can include the name, in this case Mepis, logos or other marketplace identifiers. So, while a distro owner cannot stop another party from selling the software, they have full control over how their trademarks are used. The person in those threads is selling CDs bearing the Mepis name and Mepis logos. The owner of those trademarks has not authorized that use of the trademarks. This does not violate the GPL because the GPL, a distribution license based on copyright, cannot be applied to trademarks.
This is the same reason CentOS (<a href="http://www.centos.org/" title="centos.org">http://www.centos.org/</a centos.org> for example, cannot identify that it is based on Red Hat. Red Hat disallows them the use of the trademarked name and logos.
Even Debian has some restrictions on their name and logo (<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/1998/19980306a" title="debian.org">http://www.debian.org/News/1998/19980306a</a debian.org>) which has caused some discussion and contraversy of late, as seen here: <a href="http://news.com.com/Debian+trademark+policy+under+question/2100-7344_3-5876677.html" title="com.com">http://news.com.com/Debian+trademark+policy+under<nobr>+<wbr></nobr> question/2100-7344_3-5876677.html</a com.com>. Will you now argue that Debian is not free?
If the definition of free is compliance with the GPL, Mepis is just as free as Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Debian. If the definition of free includes full use of trademarks, probably all Linux distros would have to be classified as non-free.
Which definition do you want to apply? If the later, you would be outside of the definition generally accepted by the community.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
I understand
Posted by: alandd on November 13, 2005 12:17 AMThe software in Mepis is Free Software licensed under the GPL. As the threads you quote point out, if someone wants to pay you for GPL software, take the money.
However, the GPL only covers copyrighted software. It does not cover trademark. Trademarked items can include the name, in this case Mepis, logos or other marketplace identifiers. So, while a distro owner cannot stop another party from selling the software, they have full control over how their trademarks are used. The person in those threads is selling CDs bearing the Mepis name and Mepis logos. The owner of those trademarks has not authorized that use of the trademarks. This does not violate the GPL because the GPL, a distribution license based on copyright, cannot be applied to trademarks.
This is the same reason CentOS (<a href="http://www.centos.org/" title="centos.org">http://www.centos.org/</a centos.org> for example, cannot identify that it is based on Red Hat. Red Hat disallows them the use of the trademarked name and logos.
Even Debian has some restrictions on their name and logo (<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/1998/19980306a" title="debian.org">http://www.debian.org/News/1998/19980306a</a debian.org>) which has caused some discussion and contraversy of late, as seen here: <a href="http://news.com.com/Debian+trademark+policy+under+question/2100-7344_3-5876677.html" title="com.com">http://news.com.com/Debian+trademark+policy+under<nobr>+<wbr></nobr> question/2100-7344_3-5876677.html</a com.com>. Will you now argue that Debian is not free?
If the definition of free is compliance with the GPL, Mepis is just as free as Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Debian. If the definition of free includes full use of trademarks, probably all Linux distros would have to be classified as non-free.
Which definition do you want to apply? If the later, you would be outside of the definition generally accepted by the community.
#