discuss: Re: Greg Ferguson -- LinuxGazette Membership.... (fwd)
Subject:
FAO: Greg Ferguson -- LinuxGazette Membership.... (fwd)
From:
Rick Moen ####@####.####
Date:
13 Nov 2003 12:09:26 -0000
Message-Id: <20031113120959.GL11857@linuxmafia.com>
"Rodolfo J. Paiz" ####@####.#### wrote:
> Regardless of right and wrong on this issue, we should find out what is
> going on.
If I can help provide relevant information, I'll be glad. I'm one of
the Linux Gazette staff who (unanimously) decided in early October to
move the Gazette to new hosting. If any of you has LWN subscriptions,
you'll find a more complete story in the last two issues, especially the
current issue's Letters column, which reproduces the Oct. 28
notification letter we sent SSC owner Phil Hughes thanking him for
hosting and letting him know we were moving.
> Both sites claim to have the trademark/copyright of the name "Linux
> Gazette" in their favor.
Copyrights of all published material has _always_ rested with the
individual authors, all the way back to issue #1 in 1995. This
continues to be true.
As far as we can tell, SSC started asserting trademark very recently out
of anger over our departure. No trademark has ever been registered.
Moreover, the company didn't create our "brand"; magazine founder John
M. Fisk did. Most important, trademark is completely inapplicable in
any event, because it exists only with regard to commerce, and LG has
always been explicitly non-commercial. (There are signs SSC may intend
to change the latter as to its site.)
At the time of our departure, SSC had already told us that they would
cease publishing LG as a magazine at all: No more issues, no more
editors, no more static content (and thus no more mirror network).
Phil Hughes wanted to replace it with a Slashdot-style dynamic-content
Web discussion board (aka CMS = content management system).
When SSC deployed that dynamic-content replacement site (late October),
we sent our notice of departure, established http://linuxgazette.net/,
and published the November issue there.
_Subsequent_ to our departure letter, SSC apparently modified its plans
without advising us: They hurriedly put together a rather thin and
not-very-good November issue of their own, and (to our great surprise)
published it in addition to their dynamic-content site. The LDP's
automatic mirroring script has picked up that (SSC, Inc.
employee-produced) issue.
We regret the confusion: It wasn't our idea, and SSC's creation of a
_second_ mirrorable Gazette as of November came as a complete surprise
to us. All we can think to do is just keep on doing what we've been
doing for eight years, publishing an issue the first of each month --
and try to minimise confusion and take the high road.
Naturally, we appreciate our LDP membership. (_Our_ Linux Gazette is
non-commercial and published by volunteer members of the Linux
community.) It would be nice if LDP would mirror the November and
subsequent issues. Details are at http://linuxgazette.net/mirrors.html ,
or send mail to ####@####.#### .
--
Cheers, * Contributing Editor, Linux Gazette *
Rick Moen -*- See the Linux Gazette in its new home: -*-
####@####.#### <http://linuxgazette.net/>
