SF logo + CC0 license (upcoming octave-gnerate-html package)

Rafael Laboissière <[email protected]> Sun, 30 Nov 2025 17:24:34 +0100
Newsgroups gmane.linux.debian.devel.legal
Organization Debian GNU/Linux
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hi,

I am preparing the octave-generate-html package [1] for inclusion in 
Debian. The upstream sources contain a JavaScript that generates the 
following HTML code into the including document [2]:

   <a href="https://sourceforge.net"><img src="https://sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=2888&amp;type=13"
      width="120" height="30" style="border: 0;" alt="SourceForge.net Logo"/></a>

This triggers the Lintian error privacy-breach-logo. I order to get 
around the problem, I changed the code to [3]:

   <a href="https://sourceforge.net"><img src="sflogo.png"
      width="120" height="30" style="border: 0;" alt="SourceForge.net Logo"/></a>

And include the "sflogo.png" file, downloaded from the SF website.

Now, I am not sure about the license conditions of that PNG file. 
According to Wikipedia [4]:

“This logo image consists only of simple geometric shapes or text. It 
does not meet the threshold of originality needed for copyright 
protection, and is therefore in the public domain. Although it is free of 
copyright restrictions, this image may still be subject to other 
restrictions.”

According to the SF website [5]:

“Logo usage: The SourceForge.net logo may not be modified for any purpose. 
The changing of things like size, color, and form factor is prohibited. 
If you believe you need an alternative to the logos we offer, please 
submit a Feature Request. Please note that change requests for our 
logo images are very infrequently accepted; these logos are part of 
our corporate branding. Additional information regarding acceptable 
usage for our logo may be found in the SourceForge.net Terms and 
Conditions of Use.”

When looking for the “SourceForge.net Terms and Conditions of Use” 
mentioned above, we finally land on the “Terms of Use Agreement • 
Slashdot Media” webpage. I must confess that I could not find the ]

I have also another question related the the license of a file in the 
package. The fixed.js file [7] contains the following header comments:

     Copyright (C) 2009 Søren Hauberg <[email protected]>

     This file licensed under the CC0 license (see
     <https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode>),
     effectively placing it in the public domain.

A added the following stanza in debian/copyright for it:

     Files: inst/of-website-files/fixed.js
     Copyright: 2009, Søren Hauberg <[email protected]>
     License: CC0
      This file licensed under the CC0 license (see
      <https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode>),
      effectively placing it in the public domain.

Is it correct?

Best,

Rafael Laboissière

  [1] https://gnu-octave.github.io/packages/generate-html/
  [2] https://salsa.debian.org/pkg-octave-team/octave-generate-html/-/blob/upstream/latest/inst/of-website-files/footer.js?ref_type=heads
  [3] https://salsa.debian.org/pkg-octave-team/octave-generate-html/-/commit/07cd1f4055a10497c10e530115f98b65c13995a7
  [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SourceForge_logo_transparent.svg
  [5] https://sourceforge.net/p/forge/documentation/SourceForge%20Logo/
  [6] https://slashdotmedia.com/terms-of-use/