Remove icons with edX® trademark logos from OpenSource repositories

[maxim (Maxim Beder)]

GitHub Issue

We noticed that some of the default icons that are used in the platform contain the edX® trademark logo. The examples that we know of are:

• frontend-app-learning/src/generic/assets/edX_certificate.png at master · openedx/frontend-app-learning · GitHub - used on the course exit screen if a learner has earned a certificate.
• edx-platform/lms/static/images/programs/sample-cert.png at master · openedx/edx-platform · GitHub - used on a program details page in the legacy UI if a learner has earned a certificate in one of the courses.

These icons have been added a few years ago and there is no easy way to replace them, if you don’t count some CSS shenanigans. It is our understanding that these icons wouldn’t make anyone liable for violating the trademark/copyright (although I’m not a lawyer). At the same time, since these repositories are meant to be used by the community, we think that it shouldn’t include edX® trademark logo. We’ve received reports about these icons from our clients for whom we are hosting instances, and we also believe that it could be confusing for their users to see edX logo on the courses that are not associated or affiliated by edX.

We would like to request that these icons are replaced with the variants that do not contain the trademark logo.

[Andres.Aulasneo (Andrés González @ Aulasneo)]

I fully agree with you. There should not be any reference to edX (logo or text) in the community release. IMO it should be possible to override all logos by branding. Maybe the Open edX logo could be a good default.

[sarina (Sarina Canelake)]

@Andres.Aulasneo

Maybe the Open edX logo could be a good default.

I agree, I think it would be very reasonable to have these images with the Open edX logo instead.

@maxim

We would like to request that these icons are replaced with the variants that do not contain the trademark logo.

I think if you were to make a short product proposal it would be very quickly approved and the change could be made. I would say to make a product proposal so if future icons/images are found with the edX logo, we could refer back to the product proposal to help guide future changes without relitigation.