Mozilla Corp. just virtually yelled at Debian Linux for misusing the Firefox trademark.

I’ll try to simplify the situation, but it’s all documented here.

Mozilla: “yeah, you can use our branding!”
Debian: “Oooh, I don’t want to use the logo, that’s under a ‘non-free’ license” (aka not “open source”, but in a graphic sense… tough to explain. basically the logo is copyrighted somehow that violates debian’s principles)
Mozilla: “Okay that’s cool. Just change the logo and you can still use the “Firefox” name, as long as the changes you guys make to Firefox are not very big.”
Debian: “Yay!”

Cut to this week.

Mozilla: “Hey Debian. You’re misusing our trademark.”
Debian: “WTF?!”
Mozilla: “Yeah! You guys are using our name without the logo!”
Debian: “WTF?! But you said…”
Mozilla: “You get all or nothing! You’re going to have to change the name of the browser in Debian too, or you’re violating the trademark!”
Debian: “…there’s always Epiphany…”

Lame. Lame. Lame.

Mozilla, don’t fall down the corporate trap. Don’t forget your roots. These are the people who got you where you are - and you’re repaying them by stabbing them in the back.

Don’t be stupid Mozilla. Stupidity is stupid.

And you know it.

Chris

[tags]mozilla,debian,trademark,copyright,logo,firefox,mozilla firefox, open source[/tags]