Here's how I see it...

Someone decides, owing to a lack of official merchandise, to start selling 
NetBSD logo merchandise to the public.  He claims that he will donate the 
profits to the projects -- and although we perhaps haven't seen a check yet 
(not that I would know, nor has any official statement been made to such 
effect), we have NO REASON TO BELIEVE HE WON'T.

I'll get back to the check in a moment.  The most important point here is 
that, as a project, HE'S DOING US A FAVOR by propagating the NetBSD image and 
message.

So, how do we respond?  We send him what comes off as a cease-and-desist 
letter.  No, I'm not interested in nitpicking "what it actually said;" the 
fact is, the IP Stick was waved.  It shouldn't have been.  The people 
responsible for the original letter created a hostile situation where there 
should not have been one.  They f**ked up, period.

The thing to do at this point is to apologize, publicly.  No "but we were 
right and he was wrong" or any other such bullshit -- an actual apology, for 
making threatening gestures.  Anything short of that leaves you with the 
image of being a bully.  And that image is actively damaging to the project.  
Get over yourselves and do the right thing for NetBSD.  And for <deity>'s 
sake, stop making the hole deeper!


As for "the check," the way to approach this would have been a query more 
like: "Hey, on your site you say you're going to donate the profits back to 
NetBSD.  How do you plan to make this donation?  We haven't seen anything 
yet."