Suppose I have a set of Trade Marks, all legally set up and registered. I write up some software, and I am so enamored of my Marks that I intertwine them with every bit of my code (hey, they look pretty, OK, which is why I make them my Marks). Indeed, the effort of ripping them out would be essentially the same as rewriting the code. I, then, being the free software guy that I am, license the code under the MIT license.

However, I do love my marks — so I have an aggressive trade mark enforcement policy, and I actively pursue usage of my marks by anybody unless they have approval from me — and I don’t allow them to use my mark if they have modified my code (I mean, who knows what butchery of my mark and my reputation shall then ensue?)

Should this piece of software be considered free by Debian? While the freedom to modify and distribute the software is effectively been taken away from the users of my software, there are those who argue that the software is free, since the freedom has been taken away by Trade Mark law, and not copyright law. By a strict reading of the letter of the DFSG, they claim that since only copyright licenses are mentioned, any other abrogation of freedom does not count. This is wrong.

The bottom line is whether the users have the freedom to modify the software, not exactly how the restriction of freedom was achieved. One should be looking at the freedoms, the so called spirit of the social contract, and not a strict interpretation of the exact wording of what is supposed to be a guideline, anyway (and yes, I know that the guideline argument has lent itself to abuse in times past).