[FFmpeg-devel] Use of FFmpeg Logo

[Måns Rullgård]

Michael Niedermayer <michaelni at gmx.at> writes:

> On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 12:25:52AM +0000, M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
>> Diego Biurrun <diego at biurrun.de> writes:
> [...]
>
>> > Who created the logo?  Do we need to develop a set of guidelines for
>> > its usage?
>
> Iam not sure, you are our legal expert. What does the law (in general)
> already allow people to do with logos?
>
>> 
>> I did, in one of my rare artistic moments.  I'm obviously fine with it
>> being used unmodified to reference FFmpeg.  I'd rather not see it
>> mutilated or used for other purposes.
>
> Iam pretty sure a caricature of it would be fair use, ive seen so many
> caricatures of things and at the same time heard of no lawsuits here
> that iam pretty sure you would have no success beyond filly some judges
> secretaries trashcan if you tried to forbid art that mutilated the logo,
> at least around here ...

Caricatures are a bit of a special case.  I am obviously not trying to
restrict things explicitly allowed by law, but I am reluctant to grant
any additional rights in this case.  By this I mean, for example, that
I do not want someone to use a modified version of the logo to
represent something other than FFmpeg, or indeed FFmpeg itself in
situations where the unaltered logo would be appropriate.

My opinions here have little to do with the fact that I happened to
create the logo; this is how I think logos should be treated in
general.  I am not going as far as e.g. Mozilla and prohibiting use of
the logo for "unofficial" builds (especially since we do not provide
official builds), but some degree of control is appropriate, in my
opinion.

-- 
M?ns Rullg?rd
mans at mansr.com