Canonical wants hosting companies to pay to use the Ubuntu brand name – update
According to two hosting companies, Canonical asks them to charge an extra one or two euros per month for each server running Ubuntu. If they don’t, they say they are no longer allowed to use the Ubuntu brand name on their site.
The case came to light through the founder of the French hosting company OVH. “Ubuntu asks us to charge you one or two euros for each virtual private server/pci/pcc/sd. If not, we will be banned from using the Ubuntu brand on our website.”
The owner of OVH got acclaim from Jonathan LaCour of DreamHost: “They do that with us at DreamHost and I always felt it was inappropriate.” The two are both surprised about Canonical’s behavior, but at the same time show that they are sympathetic to Ubuntu. Canonical has not yet commented on the matter.
Canonical has come under fire in the past regarding the Ubuntu brand name. In 2013, the company ordered a critical Ubuntu site to stop using the logo and Ubuntu name in the URL, Ars Technica wrote at the time. Canonical also apologized.
Update, 13.05: Like user Aaargh! indicates, OVH appears to be modifying the Ubuntu distro, including a modified kernel. Canonical’s trademark policy states that in those cases, companies need Canonical’s approval if they use the Ubuntu brand. In addition, in that case they must conclude a license agreement with possible payment with Canonical.