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List:       kde-artists
Subject:    Re: K-ARTIST:Re: [Kopete-devel] plugin icons in Kopete -- trademark/copyright issue?
From:       ante <vitanova () softhome ! net>
Date:       2003-02-16 14:17:10
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On Sunday 16 February 2003 09:24, Nick Betcher wrote:
> > Currently Kopete is using icons that are presumably copyrighted and
> > trademarked by AOL, Microsoft and ICQ.  Despite this being a common
>
> AFAIK the ICQ icons aren't copyrighted (they're not the AOL ones, even
> though they are familiar).

That is impossible. The one that made the icon automatically has the 
copyright. I guess you want to say it was made by a KDE artist, and by 
sending it to KDE he gave KDE permission to use and license it. In that case 
there is no copyright problem. There may be a trademark problem. 

>
> > practice in OSS IM applications, I am dubious of its legality -- unless
> > there is somewhere a license for these things that I am unaware of.
>
> Again, AFAIK there is no license that I have come across explicitly denying
> the use of icons from a certain program. Granted "The Running Man" *is*
> copyrighted, the icon itself is probably not.

Licenses are not denying rights, they grant rights (= license). Fully 
automatically everything is forbidden under copyright laws, just by making 
something. Only the maker has full rights. 

> The best idea at this point would be to actually research which icons are
> and aren't copyrighted and ask the owners of the non-copyrighted ones if we
> could use them. I will start this later today (it's 2:30am here, time to go
> to bed) when I wake up.

Again, all icons are copyrighted, unless the copyright was explicitely waved. 
There is just one thing to be researched first: were the used icons drawn by 
KDE artists? If yes, there are no direct copyright problems. Second question: 
are the icons interpretations, are there enough changes. If yes, there are no 
copyright problems. 
   There still may be trademark problems. I suggest to first find out what 
should be done. Do not start with asking the companies. 

Cordialemente,

Ante



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