In reply to Carl Hancock.

You are mixing two entirely different issues. The GPL and Trademarks. They aren't one and the same. The GPL does not give you the right to utilize someone else's trademark as you see fit. PERIOD.

Let's use a real world GPL example that has already set a precedence but it certainly isn't the only one. Red Hat.

The best and easiest example of this to understand an be found on the Wikipedia page that discussed Red Hat Enterprise Linux Derivatives and discusses exactly this. Redistribution of a GPL product and the Trademark implications.

You can find the specific information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_derivatives#Legal_aspects

This piece of information sums it up:

"To avoid misrepresentation of Red Hat's trademark, material in the original distribution covered by the trademark must be stripped off or removed from the redistribution."

GPL != Trademark

I'll give you a good example of the reverse. Misrepresentation of a FREE GPL product that would trigger having the Trademark holder seeking a cease and desist in order to have it taken down: WordPress

If someone setup a site to sell WordPress, simply sell the free WordPress distribution as a download, and it gained traction through adword links, etc. Do you not think the WordPress Foundation would do something about it to avoid causing confusion in the marketplace and hurting users by someone selling the WordPress distribution and using the WordPress trademark to do so? If they didn't, they'd risk losing their trademark because enforcing your trademark is extremely important to maintaing legal rights to the trademark.

You should take a look at the WordPress Foundations page specifically on it's trademark which can be found here:

http://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/

Pay close attention to the part about use "WordPress" in the product name which i'm quoting from here:

"Similarly, a business related to WordPress themes can describe itself as “XYZ Themes, the world’s best WordPress themes,” but cannot call itself “The WordPress Theme Portal.”"

The same applies to using the trademark in code. It's no different.

The GPL gives you the right to use the code how you see fit. It doesn't give you the right to use another individuals Trademark how you see fit.

All you had to do is remove some text from the README file as requested and Brad would have granted you the approval to do what you were doing. You chose not to do so and instead kicked and screamed "GPL!". What you should do is instead read up on Trademark law.

They are not one and the same. Unfortunately this is a common misconception within the WordPress community due to the fact people see "GPL" and assume they can do whatever the hell they want. And they can. They just can't do whatever they hell they want with someone else's brand and trademark.

Now the easy removal of text from the README file just became much more painful for you. Now you have to strip the trademark from the code entirely.