[CentOS] Re: Linux Trademarked?

Fri Aug 19 17:44:20 UTC 2005
Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith at ieee.org>

Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can you give proper copyright credit on the Linux kernel
> without the name Linux?  A quick grep through the source
> tree shows the word is used thousands of times.

If this was the case, CentOS couldn't exist.
Heck, Red Hat Enterprise Linux couldn't exist.
This is trademark.  It's about a "mark" in "trade."
If you do not use the mark in the trade, you are fine.

> If there are restrictions on the usage, how do you
reconcile
> that with the GPL requirement that prohibits additional
> restrictions?

Read your GPL more closely.  GPL requires the software be
functional without additional requirements.  You do not need
a trademark for it to be functional.  The GPL does not
prohibit bundling of other software that has restrictions, as
long as the software does not require it to function.



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