On 7/21/06, Carl Trieloff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Quick question on trademarks. If you search many of the Apache project names, they are trademarked to gezoo, however if you search "Apache XXX" it cleans up. Once/one day when the project graduates from Incubator it will also be "Apache XXX" which is unique. How is this different from any of the other names in Apache that are highly trademarked without the "Apache" qualifier? Comments please - what is the policy?
i'm not sure that there's enough consensus or definition for a policy. but there are plenty of strong opinions on project naming IMHO it's more than just about the law IMHO it's about politeness: the ASF is a little bit of a gorilla now. it would be impolite for apache to throw it's weight around by picking names too simiar to others in the software field. IMHO it's about branding: control of the brand allows apache to ensure that downstream users know whether their software is official. FUD is easier if xxx and apache xxx could be confused. of course, this argument only really applies when xxx is not a generic technical term. - robert
