I don't think it's ironic. AFAIK O'Reilly only object to the use the camel image when its used to the detriment of Perl, which to my mind is a fair point. Any individual or company holding a trademark would feel the same way.

O'Reilly happened to have copyrighted it because it was their book that was published and used that image. Had Wrox or Addison Wesley or some other Publishing house published the book, I'm sure they would have pretty much done the same.

O'Reilly have a healthy attitude to Open Source IMO, and I would rather a company with clout protect Open Source, than a group of individuals with little or no money to support any infringements, and very little weight in a court to do anything about it anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbie
Birmingham Perl Mongers
Web Site: http://birmingham.pm.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~