Re: [GM-apis] ImageMagick utility names

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004, Cristy wrote:

> It has come to our attention that the GraphicsMagick Group has modified
> the GraphicMagick distribution to permit users of GraphicsMagick
> to encourage the use the ImageMagick utility names convert, mogrify,
> montage, composite, identify, import, display and animate.  Specifically
> the gm utility was modified to run under the same names as that of the
> ImageMagick utility names and a configure program option was added,
> --enable-magick-compat, to automate the addition or replacement of
> existing ImageMagick utilities.

Given that GraphicsMagick is derived from ImageMagick (GraphicsMagick
is a modification of ImageMagick) it seems reasonable for it to offer
its users the option to invoke the original utility names.

> We consider the utility names (convert, mogrify, montage, composite,
> identify, import, display and animate) as copyrighted, trademarked,
> and the intellectual property of the ImageMagick distribution owned
> by ImageMagick Studio LLC.  As the President of ImageMagick LLC I

ImageMagick is originally a product of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and
Company and (at least at the time GraphicsMagick acquired the sources)
is distributed under a liberal license which allows anyone to modify
it and re-distribute under the original names.  There is no provision
in the license which requires renaming of package components in order
to modify and distribute.  The distribution license for ImageMagick
was stable for 12 years.  Only recently has ImageMagick been applying
new licenses.

> request that the use of these names be removed from the GraphicsMagick
> distribution immediately.  The use of these names have been used
> exclusively for ImageMagick utilities for close to 15 years and
> is are generally part of many modern operating systems such as Linux,
> FreeBSD, etc.  GraphicsMagick, using these protected names, could cause
> confusion for the ImageMagick user base and possibly diminish the value
> ImageMagick has obtained over the years from the user community.  I ask
> now respectfully, but will legally enforce our rights to the ImageMagick
> claim of ownership of these utility names, if need be.  However I trust the
> GraphicsMagick's Group will comply with our concerns since their mission
> statement includes this statement "Value, and respect the contributions
> of developers, and observe and respect the copyrights of other projects."
>                    ----------------------------------------------------

GraphicsMagick is in 100% compliance with the E. I. du Pont de Nemours
and Company, ImageMagick Studio, and other applicable licenses we are
aware of.  We have done our best to determine the origin of software
and documentation distributed in ImageMagick and will extend the list
of copyrights/licenses if additional authorships are discovered.

> As an aside, I've never heard of another project usurping the names of
> an existing project.  Imagine if someone wrote a compiler and encouraged
> users to flip a switch and replace the gcc command with a command that
> fired up their compiler instead.  Just seems plain rude to me and most likely
> in violation of copyright.

That project was called "EGCS". It was so successful that it became
the official base for GCC development. The GPL does not require those
who modify and re-distribute the software to alter component names.
It only requires that the package alterations be described and that
the overall package name reflect that there were alterations.

If you feel that authors should be able to modify licenses for open
source software after the software has already been released (thereby
making all open source licenses useless), then I suggest that you
create a discussion topic at "http://slashdot.org/".  I expect that it
would be a lively and fruitful discussion.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
[email protected]
http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen



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