Re: Debian trademark, EAN, proposed letter, SPI heads-up

From: Samuel Lelièvre <samuel(dot)lelievre(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: MENGUAL Jean-Philippe <mengualjeanphi(at)free(dot)fr>
Cc: Chris Lamb <leader(at)debian(dot)org>, spi-general(at)lists(dot)spi-inc(dot)org, Ian Jackson <ijackson(at)chiark(dot)greenend(dot)org(dot)uk>, debian-project(at)lists(dot)debian(dot)org
Subject: Re: Debian trademark, EAN, proposed letter, SPI heads-up
Date: 2018-05-08 11:54:40
Message-ID: CAEcArF0wE6Z8cVp1ZFQp6398cTv8y17w99ZDus0_hS9s=AYnSA@mail.gmail.com
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If you're at the polishing stage, here are some minor comments.

Quoting the draft letter in the initial post in this thread (comments
further down).

=== draft letter ===

RE DEBIAN - EUROPEAN ARTICLE NUMBER (EAN)

To Whom It May Concern

The Debian Project ("Debian") and Software In The Public Interest
Inc ("SPI") wish to make known that:

1. Debian, through its Trusted Organisations including SPI, owns and
controls the trademark "Debian" in various jurisdictions.

2. Debian does not provide European Article Numbers (EANs). Nor do
any of Debian's associated organisations do so on Debian's behalf.

3. Debian and SPI give public permission for products embodying
Debian's software and documentation to be sold, according to the
Debian Trademark Policy (which can be found at
https://www.debian.org/trademark). That policy does not make any
requirement about EANs. Therefore (provided the the policy is adhered
to) we have no objection to Debian branded products being sold without
EANs.

4. Debian do not anticpate this situation changing in the next 2
years. Specifically, we do not expect to be issuing EANs within the
next 2 years.

5. Please therefore allow vendors of Debian merchandise to trade,
notwithstanding any lack of EANs for those products.

6. This is without predjudice, of course, to our right to enforce our
trademarks against anyone found violating our trademark policy. We
are simply saying that lack of an EAN is, in itself, completely fine.

Signed

for the Debian Project for Software in the Public Intere

=== end draft letter ===

As someone else suggested, I would slightly rephrase item 2.

Original phrasing:

2. Debian does not provide European Article Numbers (EANs). Nor do
any of Debian's associated organisations do so on Debian's behalf.

Proposed rephrasing:

2. Debian does not provide European Article Numbers (EANs). None
of Debian's associated organisations do on Debian's behalf either.

In item 3, I would suppress the comma in "to be sold, according to":

3. Debian and SPI give public permission for products embodying
Debian's software and documentation to be sold, according to the
Debian Trademark Policy (which can be found at

The plural "Debian do not" in item 4:

4. Debian do not anticpate this situation changing in the next 2
years. Specifically, we do not expect to be issuing EANs within the
next 2 years.

should be made singular, I think (and fix anticpate -> anticipate):

4. Debian does not anticipate this situation changing in the next 2
years. Specifically, we do not expect to be issuing EANs within the
next 2 years.

...especially since item 1 reads "Debian [...] owns and controls" and
item 2 reads "Debian does not".

Fix predjudice -> prejudice in item 6.

6. This is without prejudice, of course, to our right to enforce our

Kind regards,
Samuel

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