Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

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MugenFighter
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Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by MugenFighter »

Ok so I bought some blank CD-Rs, but it turns out I bought too many. I thought I could build the Hybrid CD and burn it to some of the CD-Rs and give it to random people. Does this break some rule or term of a license? And is this something that I could do?
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EmuandCo
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by EmuandCo »

We are GPL/BSD and some more licensed, so.... fell free to do so
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by MugenFighter »

EmuandCo wrote:We are GPL/BSD and some more licensed, so.... fell free to do so
Okay thanks. I'm sorry for asking a silly question. Just wanted to be sure to avoid any potentially legal issues from ReactOS's side. Also I was traveling from Houston to Harker Heights (which is around Killeen/Fort Hood) when I asked this question.
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by erkinalp »

Are we allowed to use the brand ReactOS to identify it? If not, no commercial CD distribution may be made. This will not affect HTTP and FTP downloads.
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by EmuandCo »

Well. If you just make a copy of the built source, you can use the brand of course. We do the same on every Linux Tage, FOSDEM and whereever we have a booth at. If you change bigger parts of it... good question. I am no lawyer...
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes.

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PurpleGurl
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by PurpleGurl »

My guess, if you change parts of it, you should make it distinct from the official. But I see no harm in saying it is based on, powered by, etc. So my guess is that identification is allowed, but not to the extent that it blurs the lines. But I am not lawyer nor do I represent ROS in any way, so it is just my opinions only.
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by EmuandCo »

You even have to tell em what it's based on, but this law stuff is faaar beyong that what might show up on your way. ^^
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes.

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Aeneas
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by Aeneas »

Well... For all I am aware, you may do whatever you want as long as the trademark owners allow it. You can stick the Mercedes sign to a trabant, if the appropriate consent has been acquired. There is nothing to stop a trademark owner to allow someone some specific usage.

The trick with ReactOS is making sure you are talking to a competent representative, and not "some random guy". (Assuming the symbol is protected somehow at all, worst case by "rights to the image" or other prohibitions of misleading behaviour.)

A very theoretical consideration, for the sake of completeness: The trick for ReactOS is "not to allow everybody every usage", or else the name may become generic and the trademark will be LOST. That happened to Sony with its Walkman, because people started to call all kinds of things a "walkman" and the term began to lack "ability to differentiate", a requirement for trademarks. (The danger for ReactOS would be that "ReactOS" starts to be used for "operating system", as in, "check out what ReactOS my computer is running", or thelike. Given the MINDBOGGING NERD NICHE we are considering, this is in my eyes FAAAR from an actual danger.)

Moreover, for "justifiably purely informational purposes", one can use trademarks without consent of the owner, and even against his explicit consent. If you say, "I am driving a Mercedes", the car company CANNOT come and say, "Shhhh! The name of the one that must not be mentioned!"

In other words, I would solve it thus, if there is any risk of misunderstanding between the parties:

a) burn a CD the way you would like to distribute it;

b) print/paint/draw on it the way you would like to place the ReactOS sign;

c) ask a "core member" of your trust whom to send it to;

d) send that CD by mail to the specified person, who shall have a look at it - and he shall decide whether that is OK. If not, rinse and repeat with the required adjustments.

Hope that is helpful.
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by EmuandCo »

Feel free to ask in #reactos or ML if your ISO is fine.
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes.

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DOSGuy
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by DOSGuy »

I'm not sure why this has become a legal discussion. Remember shareware, where developers depended on people to distribute as many copies of their software as possible? ROS is like that. We want as many people as possible to try out ReactOS, so if you want to a burn a few CD-Rs with a copy of ReactOS and write "ReactOS 0.3.17" (or whatever) on the disc with a Sharpie, please do so and share them with anyone who might be interested. All of the licenses that ROS falls under should allow this and, at any rate, no one is likely to object even if they had a right to. This legal stuff doesn't become an issue until it gets into things like commercial distribution, or misrepresenting ownership of ReactOS' trademarks. Passing along shareware/freeware via a person's own disks and a handwritten label is a tradition that goes back to 8" floppy disks (for me it started with 5.25" and 3.5"), and thanks for keeping that tradition alive.
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MugenFighter
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by MugenFighter »

DOSGuy wrote:I'm not sure why this has become a legal discussion. Remember shareware, where developers depended on people to distribute as many copies of their software as possible? ROS is like that. We want as many people as possible to try out ReactOS, so if you want to a burn a few CD-Rs with a copy of ReactOS and write "ReactOS 0.3.17" (or whatever) on the disc with a Sharpie, please do so and share them with anyone who might be interested. All of the licenses that ROS falls under should allow this and, at any rate, no one is likely to object even if they had a right to. This legal stuff doesn't become an issue until it gets into things like commercial distribution, or misrepresenting ownership of ReactOS' trademarks. Passing along shareware/freeware via a person's own disks and a handwritten label is a tradition that goes back to 8" floppy disks (for me it started with 5.25" and 3.5"), and thanks for keeping that tradition alive.
Thank you, this has helped. I posted this topic on my cell phone while in a car, so I guess I just wanted to make sure. I just hate to start any trouble, legal or otherwise.
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PurpleGurl
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by PurpleGurl »

Shareware is a poor analogy in this instance, since it had to be unmodified. The question of this thread is about distributing a modified distro of ROS.
erkinalp
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by erkinalp »

Canonical and Mozilla have policy that Ubuntu and Firefox trademarks cannot be used on modified versions. Does ReactOS Foundation have a similar policy?
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oldman
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by oldman »

MugenFighter wrote:Ok so I bought some blank CD-Rs, but it turns out I bought too many. I thought I could build the Hybrid CD and burn it to some of the CD-Rs and give it to random people. Does this break some rule or term of a license? And is this something that I could do?
This topic is not about distributing a modified version of ReactOS. The Hybrid CD was created for FOSSDEM15 and I believe it was also given out at LinuxTag this year. I think if anyone down-loads the source code; the hybrid cd can be compiled with ninja hybridcd instead of ninja bootcd or ninja livecd. No one needs to alter anything to make the hybrid cd.
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MugenFighter
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Re: Can I give away copies of ReactOS?

Post by MugenFighter »

PurpleGurl wrote:Shareware is a poor analogy in this instance, since it had to be unmodified. The question of this thread is about distributing a modified distro of ROS.
Yeah it was going to be unmodified. Don't know where anyone got the idea that I was going to use a modified distro from this post. I just need a way to get rid of some blank CD-Rs. Also I thought it would be a fun way to support ReactOS. Again when I originally posted this topic I was in a car going in and out of connection.
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