Re: Icons for proprietary software in contrib package

--nextPart1958039.tuKWloGJvN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; protected-headers="v1"
From: Soren Stoutner <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Icons for proprietary software in contrib package
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 21:24:37 -0700
Message-ID: <2232675.8ASEJvY0nt@soren-desktop>
Organization: Debian
MIME-Version: 1.0

On Thursday, April 16, 2026 11:49:53=E2=80=AFPM Mountain Standard Time Ilya=
 Orlov=20
wrote:
> > > Also I am little bit confused what license should be these icons:
> > > https://github.com/Faugus/faugus-launcher/blob/1.18.2/assets/ko-fi.png
> > > https://github.com/Faugus/faugus-launcher/blob/1.18.2/assets/paypal.p=
ng
> >=20
> > I'm pretty sure that Paypal icon is not free
>=20
> Is there a standard way to check the license for an icon? So I can
> look into ko-fi.png

No, there isn=E2=80=99t.  The best case scenario is when upstream includes =
specific=20
license information for all of their icons.  However, many don=E2=80=99t.

Debian has to assume that icons are non-free when we can=E2=80=99t establis=
h that they=20
are released under a DFSG-free license.  That being said, usage of icons in=
=20
some of these cases is considered fair-use, particularly if the icons are u=
sed=20
by a launcher to refer to the service the icon represents.  In those cases,=
 it=20
is acceptable for Debian to distribute them in non-free, even if the icons =
are=20
not released under a DFSG-free license.  This is similar to how a reviewer =
can=20
include the icon of a product they are reviewing under fair use without=20
needing permission of the company that made the icon.  One of the important=
=20
aspects of this type of fair use is that the user should be able to tell th=
e=20
icon is referring to the other company=E2=80=99s products/service and not t=
o the=20
software that is being distributed by us.

=2D-=20
Soren Stoutner
[email protected]
--nextPart1958039.tuKWloGJvN
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"
Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=/Knc
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--nextPart1958039.tuKWloGJvN--