Re: [Jonas Jacobson via RT] [gnu.org #305306] icons in proprietary software that resemble free icons?

[Ben Pfaff]

John Darrington <address@hidden> writes:

> This discussion might be more suitable on one of the gtk lists.  For
> instance, the print button example is not an icon that I created, but
> a stock button from the gtk library.  The icons that I created were 
> not "copied" nor "derived"; by which I mean that, I never used the
> pixels from any third party's icons nor did I at any stage copy the
> files containing copyrighted icons to assist me in creating my own.
> However I did look at the  icons of third parties and no doubt that
> influenced my work.

Well, then, there's no problem.  Only if your icons are
derivative works of the SPSS icons would there be a problem.
Looking similar doesn't mean they're derivative works, based on
what I know now.

I hope you're not feeling threatened or offended.  I certainly
value your work, including your icons, and wouldn't want to have
to replace or modify them.  I wanted to find out where the line
was drawn for icons and similar works.  Now I know.

I don't think there's a need to change our icons.
-- 
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
--D. E. Knuth, "Structured Programming with go to Statements"