gnucash description and logo permission

[John Ralls]

On Sep 22, 2014, at 7:43 PM, eWholeSaleDirect <ewholesaledirect at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I want to distribute GNUcash on CD for a small fee on various websites.  I am asking permission to use the GNUcash logo and descriptions from your website in my advertisements.  Let me know your decision and if you want me to provide any disclaimers on my advertisements.

Dear Mr. Dorsey,

The logo is licensed under the GPL just as is the rest of the program. No one currently involved in the project owns the copyright to that work, so we aren't able to grant you permission to use it except under those terms. In particular the GPL requires that you provide a copy of the GPL and instructions for getting the SVG source file on any website or fragment (such as a banner ad) or any printed materials. You're responsible for ensuring that those instructions remain valid for as long as you make the logo publicly available.

We're not able to license use of anything written on the website: We have permission from the copyright holders only to display that material on the website, not for distribution or publication in any other form. You may of course link to our website.

Please be advised that if you distribute binaries in any way different from the ones we offer for download from our website we will redirect any support requests back to you; you should also be mindful that the GPL requires that if you modify the program in any way you must include prominent notices that you've done so, and you must distribute source for your modifications: See GPLV3 paragraph 5.

We also remind you that your distribution of GPL-licensed software in binary form obliges you to provide the source code, not just for GnuCash but also for all of the other GPL-licensed and LGPL-licensed libraries on which
GnuCash depends. Please read carefully http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html to be sure that you fully understand all of your obligations under the GPL. You should consider taking advice from an attorney who is familiar with the GPL before proceeding. You should also research the dependencies that you'll need to include to make a working GnuCash binary to ensure that you comply with the requirements of any non-FSF licenses.

As for notices, if you're honest you'll point out that the program and documentation are available for free download from our website.

Regards,
John Ralls