Introduction
This document (the “Guidelines”) contains guidelines for use of the AlmaLinux OS word mark (the “Word Mark”), as well as the AlmaLinux OS logotype, the AlmaLinux OS graphical symbol, and all other AlmaLinux OS logos (the “Logos”) (collectively, the “AlmaLinux OS Marks”).
The “AlmaLinux OS” mark is owned by Linux Foundation and sublicensed to AlmaLinux OS Foundation pursuant to the terms of the Linux Sublicense Agreement available at https://www.linuxfoundation.org/legal/sublicense-agreement/.
The AlmaLinux OS Marks are trademarks of AlmaLinux OS Foundation. (“AlmaLinux”). Trademarks provide assurance about the quality of the goods or services with which the trademarks are associated. Confusion can arise if the same or similar names are used on identical or similar offerings. AlmaLinux OS Foundation’s protection of the AlmaLinux OS Marks thus benefits the AlmaLinux OS Foundation and the AlmaLinux OS community.
These Guidelines aim to provide sufficient clarity for you to understand whether your use of the AlmaLinux OS Marks will be acceptable. Nothing in these Guidelines limits your permissions under the open-source or other copyright licenses covering packages in any AlmaLinux OS software distribution.
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation is by its nature a noncommercial, non -profit community project that provides software free of charge, even though the copyright licenses covering the individual component packages that comprise the AlmaLinux OS software distribution may permit commercial use.
Role of the AlmaLinux OS Community
AlmaLinux OS Foundation welcomes the assistance of the entire AlmaLinux OS community in reporting non-compliant uses of the AlmaLinux OS Marks and in encouraging those engaged in non-compliant uses to take corrective measures.
General Principles
Whenever you use the AlmaLinux OS Marks, you must do so in a way that does not mislead others, either directly or by omission, concerning what they are obtaining and from whom. The law reflects this requirement in two principal ways: it prohibits the creation of a “likelihood of confusion” but allows for “nominative use”.
For example, you are not allowed to say you are distributing AlmaLinux OS software when you are actually distributing some downstream modification of an official AlmaLinux OS release (“Official” packages, builds, and releases are those that have been approved for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation’s release by the AlmaLinux OS Foundation). Otherwise, your recipients would be confused if they do not receive the same features and functionality they would have obtained had they received software officially released by the AlmaLinux OS Foundation. As another example, you are not allowed to use the Logos on your website in a way that suggests that your website is an official website of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, or that the AlmaLinux OS Foundation endorses your website. On the other hand, you may of course say, for example, that you like the AlmaLinux OS software distribution or that you participate in the AlmaLinux OS Foundation.
You may not use or register, in whole or in part, the AlmaLinux OS Marks as part of your own trademark, service mark, domain name, company name, trade name, product name, or service name.
Trademark law does not allow your use of names or trademarks that are confusingly similar to the AlmaLinux OS Marks. This means, among other things, that you may not use a variation of any of the AlmaLinux OS Marks or any phonetic equivalent, takeoff, or abbreviation for a similar or related project, product, or service.
Software-related uses
Acceptable uses
- You may use the AlmaLinux OS Marks in connection with your redistribution (commercial or not) of (1) bit-for-bit identical copies of official AlmaLinux OS releases, and (2) unmodified copies of official AlmaLinux OS source packages.
- You may use the Word Mark, but not the Logos, to truthfully describe the origin of the software that you are providing but not the software itself, where what you are distributing is modified official AlmaLinux OS source code or is a build compiled from modified official AlmaLinux OS source code. You may say, for example: “This software is derived from the source code for the AlmaLinux OS distribution.” However, you may not say that the software is AlmaLinux OS.
- You may use the Word Mark to truthfully describe the relationship between your software and the AlmaLinux OS software. In such a case, you may only use the Word Mark following a verb or preposition that describes the relationship. For example, you may say “MyProject package for the AlmaLinux OS distribution” but you may not say “MyProject’s AlmaLinux OS package.”
- You may use the ‘Powered by AlmaLinux OS’ logo to truthfully state that your application runs on or uses an official AlmaLinux OS release.
- You may use the AlmaLinux OS Marks in themes, personas, or skins for applications to show your support for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, provided that the use is noncommercial and is clearly decorative, as contrasted with a use that is likely to be understood as the branding for a website or application.
Unacceptable uses
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary provided in these Guidelines, the following are examples of unacceptable uses:
- Use of the AlmaLinux OS Marks to identify software that combines any portion of the AlmaLinux OS software with any other software, unless the combined distribution is an official AlmaLinux OS distribution. For example, you may not distribute a combination of the AlmaLinux OS software with software released by the FooStack project under the name “AlmaLinux OS FooStack Distro”.
- Use of the AlmaLinux OS Marks in connection with any rebuild of AlmaLinux OS software, unless such rebuild is an official AlmaLinux OS build, regardless of whether the AlmaLinux OS software is unmodified.
Use in relation to non-software goods and services
Acceptable uses
You may use the AlmaLinux OS Marks on your website to show your support for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, so long as:
- Your own branding or naming is more prominent than the AlmaLinux OS Marks;
- All Logos hyperlink to https://www.AlmaLinux.org/;
- The site is not likely to cause users to believe that your website, service, or product is a website, service, or product of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation; and
- The site clearly states that it is not endorsed by the AlmaLinux OS Foundation.
You may use the Word Mark in the titles of books, articles and presentations, and you may use the Logos in illustrations contained within books, articles and presentation slides, so long as the use is not likely to suggest that the AlmaLinux OS Foundation has published, endorses, or agrees with your work.
Unacceptable uses
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary provided in these Guidelines, the following are examples of unacceptable uses:
- Use of the AlmaLinux OS Marks as part of a domain name or sub-domain, except as may be permitted by applicable law.
- Use of the AlmaLinux OS Marks on promotional goods for sale.
Proper trademark use
Use of trademarks in text
Always distinguish trademarks from surrounding text with at least initial capital letters or in all capital letters.
- Unacceptable: almalinux OS
- Acceptable: AlmaLinux OS
Always use trademarks in their exact form with the correct spelling, neither abbreviated, hyphenated, nor combined with any other word or words.
- Unacceptable: AmaLinux OS
- Acceptable: AlmaLinux OS
Don’t pluralize a trademark.
- Unacceptable: I have seventeen AlmaLinux OSes in my lab.
- Acceptable: I have seventeen AlmaLinux OS boxes in my lab.
Don’t use “a” or “the” to refer to an instance of the trademark. When you use a trademark following an article, you should only use the trademark as an adjective modifying a noun.
- Unacceptable: I installed an AlmaLinux OS on my friend’s laptop.
- Acceptable: I installed an AlmaLinux OS release on my friend’s laptop.
Don’t use a trademark as a verb.
- Unacceptable: We are AlmaLinux OSing our servers.
- Acceptable: We are installing the AlmaLinux OS distribution on our servers.
Don’t use a trademark as a possessive.
- Unacceptable: AlmaLinux OS’s distribution is stable.
- Acceptable: The AlmaLinux OS distribution is stable.
Use of logos
You may not change any logo except to scale it. This means you may not add elements to the logo, change the colors or proportions of the logo, distort the logo, or combine the logo with other logos.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about these Guidelines or uses of the AlmaLinux OS Marks not addressed in the Guidelines, or if you encounter any confusing use or misuse of the AlmaLinux OS Marks, please contact AlmaLinux OS Foundation help@AlmaLinux.org.
License and Attribution
These Guidelines are based in part on the Model Trademark Guidelines. Both these Guidelines and the Model Trademark Guidelines are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
