Hello, is Wine use legal?

I have Windows XP Home OEM, and I emulate Windows XP on Wine, under Linux/Debian.

On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 9:50 AM, az <wineforum-user@winehq.org> wrote:
For what? Normal usage is definitely legal as all Wine does is to
replicate the Windows API/ABI without using any of Microsoft's code
(and this has a long history of being legal)


Use of Wine does not require a Microsoft license. Use of Microsoft's
code may or may not require one.

James

what about for example Windows name, Windows fonts etc?

You mean Windows Trademark? Or components of OS, include fonts?

Do you know a history of Linux creation, btw?
Unix (as architecture and idea) was created by AT&T, and not in the garage in holidays ))
What about Minix, isn't it was reverse engineered Unix (that stepped in 1980 on commercial way)?

Some time after that AT&T decided to close source codes to prevent further "leaks".

But fortunately Linux (on the base and codes of MINIX) was created anyway.

Most everything like that is not copyrightable. Example API, headers, etc can not by copyrighted. As well as common use words, such as "window", "windows", "notepad" etc can not by copyrighted.

Everything in Wine is created from scratch and not copied from Windows. So Wine fonts are created by Wine developers and not copied from anywhere. Font names can be considered a part of API and thus free to use.

On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 10:34 AM, az <wineforum-user@winehq.org> wrote:
Windows, with a capital W or a small w cannot, by right, be
copyrighted. However, Windows98 or Windows7 can be. Thus, we cannot
use this in the name of the product...
Windows fonts are patented and in some cases require a Windows
license. Fulfilling this is up to the user, we do not and cannot
advise users to break the law (which varies by where you live.)

Otherwise, as vitamin pointed out, the code used in Wine is legal, and
free for legal use.

James