[OPEN-ILS-DOCUMENTATION] PDF icon: licensing concern & fix

[Lazar, Alexey Vladimirovich]

On May 25, 2012, at 01:34 , Dan Scott wrote:

> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 08:22:49PM +0000, Lazar, Alexey Vladimirovich wrote:
>> The loopy triangle resembling a cursive "A" is Adobe's trademark:
>> http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html.  The company does not want
>> anyone to use that symbol, unless it is for files that were produced
>> by Adobe's software.
>> 
>> Maybe I'm missing something, but neither GNOME nor KDE icons use that
>> symbol.  They use other curvy loops, but I don't see either of the
>> icons using the Adobe trademark at all.  Yes/no?
> 
> Yes, I think you're missing that the design of KDE's PDF icon [1] and
> the Dropline Etiquette theme PDF icon [2] both appear to be derived
> from Adobe's PDF icon [3], which in turn features Adobe's trademarked
> Adobe PDF logo [4]. Taking the logo and rotating it 30 degrees or so,
> or putting it on a different coloured background, doesn't magically make
> all of Adobe's trademarks and licensing conditions go away.

Well, the icons are similar, but they are not the same as the Adobe icon.  The shape is different, the proportions are different, angles and sizes  of curves are different.  It's not just rotated a bit -- it's a different shape altogether.  The icon file is not made by Adobe, we are not using the Adobe logo, we are not using the Adobe name anywhere.

> 
> Tony -- who is a lawyer, BTW -- said a few posts back: "I don't think
> this would qualify as fair use, because the value of this icon file is
> derived from its use of Adobe's trademark."

Ok. That's not my area of expertise.  For what it's worth, all I'm saying is when I compare it to Adobe PDF logo, I don't see how this KDE PDF icon is using any of Adobe's actual trademarks in any way.

> 
> I'm inclined to go with what our lawyer says, personally.
> 
> 1. http://websvn.kde.org/*checkout*/trunk/kdesupport/oxygen-icons/32x32/mimetypes/application-pdf.png
> 2. http://ur1.ca/9dbuy
> 3. http://www.adobe.com/images/pdficon_large.png
> 4. http://www.adobe.com/misc/pdfs/adobe_trademark_database_external040612.pdf