Ean Schuessler wrote:
On Monday 28 May 2007 01:35:57 pm David E Jones wrote:
We've discussed this a bit before and nothing has changed since then. There
is no registered trademark for OFBiz or "Apache OFBiz" or "The Open For
Business Project" or anything else that I'm aware of related to the
project.
The only restrictions are those listed in the Apache 2.0 license.
If we did try to register OFBiz or whatever as a trademark it would be very
public and open just like everything else, and in fact getting people
involved to help sponsor the effort and the legal costs and such would be
necessary. A trademark is not something cheap to get started and it takes a
LONG time to get finished, and a lot of effort including legal/government
efforts and enforcement efforts.
I don't think there is any benefit in doing this, especially not one that
justifies the initial and ongoing cost, so chances are this will never be
done.
This would be additionally complicated by the fact that both IBM and American
Express are actively using the phrase "Open for Business" as marketing
campaigns. Amex uses it for their small business offerings and IBM,
ironically, for their Open Source efforts. I was both pleased and discouraged
that IBM was flying a huge banner that said "Open for Business" over their
booth at JavaOne.
The platitudes of creativity are inspiring, no? Maybe I should get into
marketing... ;)
At least we win the google test now: searching for "open for business" we get
the first result!
I'm not sure what the deal is with IBM, that might just be some cute marketing thing.
With AmEx they seem to have trademarked "OPEN"... there's a fun one to enforce!
-David
