Hi, Richard Fairhurst wrote: >> Logo: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-find-number?trademark=2500155 >> Name: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/t-find-number?trademark=2500154 > > Ah, good, thanks. I presume the application is on behalf of OSMF?
What's more important than who owns the trademark is what it is used for. In industry, trademarks are usually acquired to restrict the freedom of others. I cannot, for example, get away with registering a "coca-cola-sucks.org" domain or at least I'd be in for some trouble. Neither can I run a business offering Coke-based services under the name "Coca Cola Services Inc". And if I print and sell a T-Shirt that has some funny text on it in lettering that looks like the Coke logo I might get sued as well. It is good that we are trying to acquire the trademark, because if someone unfriendly to the project were to acquire it, he or she would be able to restrict our freedom likewise, and even claim the domain name. But I sincerely hope that this is all we're after - a sort of "defensive act" that makes sure nobody else grabs our name and logo and starts dictating rules to us. I would be quite unhappy for the foundation to start using the trademark in an offensive, industry-like fashion, asking everyone who uses the logo or registers "openstreetmap-sucks.org" or opens "OpenStreetMap Services Inc" to do so only after prior permission. Many other free software projects have their name and logo trademarked by the respective foundation/organization and they usually have some kind of project-internal guidelines detailing the accepted uses of the trademark so that project members know what's ok without every case having to be dealt with individually. This is not only fast and simple, but also fair, making sure that everyone has the same rights to use the name. I would like to hear from the foundation about their concept of acceptable use of the trademark. Would you, for example, allow "openstreetmapsucks.org" and "OpenStreetMap Services, Inc."? Who has a say in the matter? Bye Frederik -- Frederik Ramm ## eMail [EMAIL PROTECTED] ## N49°00'09" E008°23'33" _______________________________________________ legal-talk mailing list legal-talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk
