Looks like folks in the Opera camp are gearing up for a pissing match over their use of the “standard” RSS feed icon originally developed by the Mozilla folks. Mozilla has asked Opera to sign a licensing agreement for the use of the icon, which is now being trademarked. Mozilla wants to manage the usage of the icon so that is only used in appropriate situations. Could they abuse this? Potentially. Will they? Not likely. Their trademark will allow them to “protect” the icon from abuse.
What I don’t understand, is why would someone want to go along with using a standard icon, but be unwilling to sign paperwork agreeing to use it in a standard way? How does it help the user community to get into another territorial pissing match over the use of an icon?
Let’s get everyone on board and use a consistent icon. Looks like while I was typing this, Chris Pirillo just posted the same thing…
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The reason you would refuse is because Mozilla could in the future charge a royalty for using this trademarked icon. So, why would you help them make it a standard, when you know they are gonna screw you down the road.
What makes you so certain that Mozilla will screw people over? Do you have some privileged information on Mozilla’s secret plans? Is there something in Mozilla’s past that the rest of us have somehow overlooked that demonstrates a pattern of unfairly messing with competitors?