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I made application which use Ubuntu, when i shift it, i will install Ubuntu myself and install application myself as one unit, i can have more unit for selling it all depends based on my marketing and budget.

In that case i have to pay to Ubuntu (i was not aware of this before just discovered today and getting confused now)? Does this mean Fedora/Archlinux should be the choice if i do not want to pay such?

Ubuntu policy says:

http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy

Restricted use that requires a trademark licence Permission from us is necessary to use any of the Trademarks under any circumstances other than those specifically permitted above. These include: Any commercial use. OEM services

http://www.canonical.com/engineering-services/oem-services/oem-services

What will be the price like this service? Or is that not applicable for Ubuntu 11.04?

Follow up:

That was misunderstanding to me, i am actually using Ubuntu as operating system but i fall in to this model, where i just do remix nothing special.

Derived works. The ability to customise Ubuntu to meet your specific needs is one of the great strengths of free software in general, and Ubuntu in particular. While we encourage customisation and derivation of Ubuntu, we must balance that freedom with the integrity of the Trademarks and the quality which they represent. To help reach that balance, we have established the following guidelines and definitions. We recognise and encourage the concept of a “remix.” Remixes are derived versions of Ubuntu, and it is intended that any software and hardware certifications will apply to a Remix. Therefore the changes from the official Ubuntu product must be minimal to be permitted to use the Trademarks. These changes can include configuration changes through the existing Ubuntu configuration management tools, changes to artwork and graphical themes and some variance in package selection. In general, a Remix can have applications from the Ubuntu archives added, or default applications removed, but removing or changing any infrastructure components (e.g., shared libraries or desktop components) will result in changes too large for the resulting product to be called by a Trademark. Note that if the nature of the product's divergence from Ubuntu changes, the Remix naming and Trademark use may no longer apply.

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    You do know, do you not, that you do not have the authority to sell Ubuntu? You can sell your own program or application provided that you are not using program code that is owned by someone else. You can sell a service. You can sell hardware with Ubuntu and your program installed. You must make clear to your customers what is being covered by the price you are charging. And you should not remove copyright or licensing information from the source code of Ubuntu or any of the program/utilities that are installed with it. Dec 17, 2011 at 17:26

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The trademark policy only applies if you wanted to the use the word "Ubuntu" in the name of your product - say you called your service "Ubuntu widgets".

However if you have your own name then you don't need to pay any money to Canonical (the holder of the Ubuntu trademark). You can use as much of the Ubuntu software and platform as you want without paying a penny, though you can pay for support.

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  • Brilliant answer. Those law/legal articles are complex to really get the point out of it while reading. This makes is much easier. Thanks a lot.
    – user25165
    Dec 17, 2011 at 16:50
  • Legal articles are complex but I do recommend that you understand what your freedoms and restrictions are according to those policy statements. Ignorance is not a protection under the law. In other words you can be prosecuted for breaking the law and a defence of "I did not know" will not get you acquited. Dec 17, 2011 at 17:33
  • This article might have been correct at the time, but it's not correct now: <canonical.com/intellectual-property-policy> applies to any use, modification or redistribution of Ubuntu, whatever you call it. In particular it does limit what the OP could do.
    – poolie
    Nov 19, 2013 at 4:33
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Its Linux, read the GPL and stick with what it allows you to do and you should be fine. A more simplified take is this don't sell someone elses hard work as your own, GPL protects authored code abuse but doesn't restrict you from doing what you like so long as you contribute and give proper credit. That is essentially the whole idea behind open source. Trademarks usually protect naming conventions or logos as long as you don't use them or use your own you should be fine.

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