Reply to Message

RE: Shuttleworth defends Firefox license in Ubuntu

masinick@... 16th Sep 2008

Wwhat is trademarked are the names: Mozilla, Firefox (and any other names that Mozilla uses in their products) and the icons and visual identifiers associated with each of the names. The code itself is 100% free and unencumbered.

Debian solves the issue with Iceweasel instead of Firefox, Icedove instead of Thunderbird, and Iceape instead of Seamonkey. The GNU project did a similar thing, but put a GNU something or other in each of their names.

If I were Ubuntu, I would either respect Mozilla's wishes and acknowledge the Firefox license, or simply use the Debian Iceweasel, which, other than new names and logos, is functionally equivalent, but could occasionally differ in the security and bug fixes and precisely how and when they are applied. For all intents and purposes, though, the code is usually the same except for trademark related issues.