Rust trademark policy

[Bone Baboon]

Sections
* Rust trademark policy
* Impact on free software projects

# Rust trademark policy

Is Rust not free software because of the Rust trademark policy?
<https://wiki.hyperbola.info/doku.php?id=en:main:rusts_freedom_flaws>

Information on the four software freedoms is here:
<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html>.

The trademark section of the Rust readme file
<https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/README.md> says:

```
The Rust programming language is an open source, community project
governed by a core team. It is also sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation
(“Mozilla”), which owns and protects the Rust and Cargo trademarks and
logos (the “Rust Trademarks”).

If you want to use these names or brands, please read the media guide.
```
Note that it says that the Mozilla Foundation owns the Rust and Cargo
trademarks.

The is the media guide linked to in the trademark section of the Rust
readme file: 
<https://www.rust-lang.org/policies/media-guide>

The sections of <https://www.rust-lang.org/policies/media-guide> that
look relevant to this question at hand are:

* The "Trademark policy" section says "most commercial uses require
  permission".  This appears to interfere with "The freedom to run the
  program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).". 

* The "Uses that require explicit approval" section says "Distributing a
  modified version of the Rust programming language or the Cargo package
  manager and calling it Rust or Cargo requires explicit, written
  permission from the Rust core team.".  This appears to interfere with
  "The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others
  (freedom 3).". 

<https://www.rust-lang.org/policies/media-guide> says "This document is
not an official statement of Mozilla trademark policy, but serves to
clarify Mozilla’s trademark policy as it relates to Rust.". 

Niko said in
<https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/53287#issuecomment-414472372>
"You are correct that we intended the trademark to apply when
distributing a package or other binary called "Rust" -- and in
particular that if modifications are made, then we would expect a
trademark request". This appears to interfere with: 
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).
* The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others
  (freedom 3). 

When I asked about this in #hyperbola@Freenode I was referred to
<https://github.com/rust-lang/foundation-faq-2020/issues/35>.  This open
issue on the Rust repository issue tracker shows that this is a current
issue.  In the issue nikomatsakis said "The foundation will be reviewing
the trademark policy, but it will be up to the board to decide the terms
that are selected."

# Impact on free software projects

If Rust is not free software then that would impact many free software
project. 

One example is Linux.  Recently there was a RFC for adding support for
Rust to the Linux kernel <https://lkml.org/lkml/2021/4/14/1023>.  Linus
Torvalds's response is here <https://lkml.org/lkml/2021/4/14/1099>.
This would also impact Linux forks such as Linux-libre.

Another example is Firefox. <https://servo.org/> says "Servo is written
in Rust, and shares code with Mozilla Firefox". This would also impact
Firefox forks such as LibreWolf, IceCat and Tor browser.