Blackmoor Vituperative

It’s no secret that I think that intellectual property law in the USA is broken. Here’s another example, from Red Hat’s Fedora Trademark Guidelines:

Fedoraâ„¢ is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. and may only be used with Red Hat Inc.’s express permission. Except as provided herein, you may not use “Fedora” or any confusingly similar mark as a trademark for your product, or use “Fedora” in any other manner that might cause confusion in the marketplace, including in advertising, on auction sites, or on software or hardware. Any party wishing to use the Fedoraâ„¢ mark may do so as long as they meet two conditions:

1. They must only use the Fedoraâ„¢ mark in association with the original Fedoraâ„¢ code found on the Fedora Project website (see http://fedora.redhat.com/) without modification; and
2. If they charge a fee for the CD-ROM or other media on which they deliver the Fedoraâ„¢ code, they warranty the media on which the Fedoraâ„¢ code is delivered, thus ensuring that the recipient receives a usable copy.

This same permission applies to such other Red Hat trademarks as are included in the authorized Fedoraâ„¢ distribution, such as RPMâ„¢. Except as expressly stated herein, no other rights are granted to use any other Red Hat trademarks, specifically including the RED HAT® and “Shadowman” logo® marks. Absolutely no exceptions.

There’s only one problem with this: Red hat does not own this trademark. The Fedora Project at University Of Virginia and Cornell University has owned this trademark since 1998:

Fedora is a general purpose repository service developed jointly by The University of Virginia Library and Cornell University. The Fedora project is devoted to the goal of providing open-source repository software that can serve as the foundation for many types of information management systems.

The software demonstrates how distributed digital information management can be deployed using web-based technologies, including XML and web services.

According to the Fedora Project web site:

The Cornell and Virginia teams have taken a number of steps to try to work with Red Hat regarding use of the name Fedora™. At this date, Red Hat has refused our request to withdraw its trademark applications and reverse its claims of usage restrictions on the name. Cornell University and the University of Virginia are now considering various legal options in response to Red Hat’s actions.

Referring back to the Red Hat Fedora web site, I found an email address for trademark isues: trademarks@redhat.com. Unfortunately, mail sent to that address bounces, with the following message:

This email address has been deactivated. Email sent to this address IS
NOT RECEIVED by a person at Red Hat….

At this point, the smell of rat becomes unmistakable.

I happen to like Red Hat, and Red Hat Fedora. I run Red Hat Fedora on my server at home, and on the development machine at work. I have no grudge against Red Hat. But what they are doing here is wrong, and they appear to know that it’s wrong.

I am reminded of the arguments used by those who support Drug Prohibition: that certain chemicals are dangerous, not necessarily in themselves, but because they incite the people taking them to commit criminal acts. IP law in the USA has become so toxic, so perverse, that it corrupts those who come into contact with it. Red Hat is not the criminal here — Red Hat is a victim. That does not absolve them of guilt, but it does mean that they need more than to be punished and to make restitution: they need counseling, and they need to break free of the toxic addiction that has driven them to commit such despicable acts.

And we, as a society, need to do something about the cause of this cancer eating away at our creative and commercial future. A good start, if you are interested in that sort of thing, is to read Lawrence Lessig’s blog.