Question about selling computers with Ubuntu

Hi

I thought I ask here first before I do something (maybe stupid) in this matter.
Let say a computer store wants a custom Ubuntu image be preinstalled aimed towards gaming. Nothing advanced, but preinstalled with steam and heroic launcher and some custom login wallpaper and minor dock settings. It will also be designed as OEM with user creating their own user account as first boot.

What do this store needs to do in order to be allowed to sell computers with this custom Ubuntu? I read something about a oem license.

/Magnus

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See Canonical’s Intellectual property rights policy | Terms and policies | Ubuntu

For a legal opinion about how those policies and your local laws affect the situation you have presented, please consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction.

It is unlikely that anybody at Ubuntu Discourse is qualified to practice law in your jurisdiction, so any opinions expressed in following posts should be considered random internet speculation.

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Thanks for link. I thought maybe a Canonical employee could answer. It would be a common question for them.
It is not a question about local laws here, but only about trademark regarding Ubuntu.

The only Canonical employees that are likely capable of answering your question accurately are those on the legal team. I’m pretty sure they’re not regular visitors on this Discourse! But that link you were given does provide a way to contact them, though.

As for local laws, you’re right and you’re wrong. No, it probably has nothing to do with the laws of your city. However, if you’re not in the UK, the way trademark laws are enforced and interpreted could differ from ones in your own country. International law ain’t easy. And if you plan on doing this through a business you own, you don’t want a half baked answer relying on incorrect assumptions.

Not a Canonical employee (but used to be one), nor am I a lawyer (and have never been one).

The general advice is if you modify the image, it’s not Ubuntu, so you can’t call it Ubuntu. If you ship a bog-standard Ubuntu install with no changes to default applications, then that’s Ubuntu.

As soon as you modify it, even by “only” installing one application (e.g. Steam) or “only” making cosmetic changes (e.g. wallpaper) it’s no longer “Ubuntu”.

By way of an example, Tuxedo have two OS options (well, technically four, but ignore that) “Tuxedo OS” and “Ubuntu” for their laptops. The Ubuntu option is genuine Ubuntu. The Tuxedo OS is Ubuntu, but with a bunch of extra changes to packages and configuration. It’s called “Tuxedo OS” for a reason. :slight_smile:

Thanks for your input. I didn’t think it would be this tricky.
However if I install one or more apps using MDT/SCCM on Windows computers, it is still Windows…so I don’t agree that it is not Ubuntu when I have installed apps on top of the original Ubuntu.
I just use the autoinstall feature and add custom deb-packages on top of it. I follow their provision design.

If you do any business using the Ubuntu trademark you will have to have a trademark license, use the contact links on the IP page that Ian linked above to talk to legal or sales at Canonical …

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I bet you have legal agreements with the organisation supplying the hardware. Why not do the same with the software?

I don’t think it’s that tricky. This is a side-effect of doing business. I honestly wish you success. Just do the due diligence as any other business would.

:man_shrugging:

Windows != Ubuntu
Microsoft != Canonical

:rotating_light: Newsflash! Things are different, film at 11! :slight_smile:

Whether you agree or not is largely besides the point. If we hypothetically look beyond your singular use case, and broaden our view to many laptop and server vendors, then we can easily see the problem.

What if every vendor said “This is Ubuntu” on a machine shipping with weird kernels, odd drivers, and proprietary, potentially insecure software, by default. Canonical’s brand could be harmed by that. Nobody wants that.

So they took the position that they did, so they protect themselves from being sued by an end user or business who thought they were getting “Ubuntu”. They’re also protecting themselves from the Ubuntu brand being diluted.

The Ubuntu trademark rules are actually really very liberal compared to many other Linux distros :slight_smile:

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