Got the news from Arun,that CDIT used RH 8.0 with some additional packages added and used the RH Logo. Hence,the case.
Did it publish its own CDs and used RH logo? or copied/distributed RH enterprise linux software?
They used RedHat 8, initially. They made packages which looked like RedHat packages. With redhat trademarked logo. In contained some additional stuff, on the same CDs or separate CD in the same package.
Another point to note here is that the redhat logos were not used on the CD's which hold the additional packages. The logo was used only on RedHat linux9 Cd's. No additional packages were include in the Cd's printed with RedHat Linux or RedHat Logo. The additional softwares provided on the additional CD is completely distribution independent. They can be compiled and installed on any distribution. Also in the RedHat's Trademark Guidelines it is said clearly that "If you are an educational institution, a not-for-profit organization, a user group, or an individual affiliated with or employed by any of those organizations, Red Hat grants you a trademark license with respect to the RED HAT mark for use with the non-commercial redistribution of Red Hat® Linux® in the form you electronically downloaded it from our FTP site or other authorized electronic download sites or as copied from an original disk from Red Hat or its authorized distributors (either from the boxed set or delivered directly to you by Red Hat or an authorized distributor)."
As Cdit prepared the CDs , it is the distributor and CDIT has done without accepting any fee for the OS CDs. It is clear that the purpose was non-commercial and again I affirm that Akshaya project is a non-commercial community project
From this its evident that eventhough the logo is printed there is no infringement of copyright law.
The completely tailored reports in the Indian Express and Kerala Kaumudi were the bye-product of the microsoft lobby which is playing all kinds of game to topple the "Free Software" initiative. They are trying to misguide the government. In this context we have to consider the Panchayath computerisation projects which the govt decided to implement using Microsoft platform.
Manilal