You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to legal-discuss@apache.org by Matthias Wessendorf <ma...@apache.org> on 2006/07/21 01:10:30 UTC
trademark issue
Hi *,
each incubator project needs to make sure that no (software)
trademarks are registed against it. There was a *free* seach engine
for doing such a search. But that's history. What todo from now? I
created a ticket in the incubator jira on that, with some *ideas*.
Please check [1].
Thank you,
Matthias
[1] http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INCUBATOR-27
--
Matthias Wessendorf
further stuff:
blog: http://jroller.com/page/mwessendorf
mail: mwessendorf-at-gmail-dot-com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: trademark issue
Posted by Matthias Wessendorf <ma...@apache.org>.
> ... We searched the "United States Patent and Trademark Office website" and the same for Germany ...
sorry; cut-n-past-error.
-Matt
> I *think* we are on a "good" way with that particular name "Apache
> Trinidad" or "Apache MyFaces Trinidad".
>
> Regards,
> Matthias
>
> On 7/20/06, William A. Rowe, Jr. <wr...@rowe-clan.net> wrote:
> > Lawrence Rosen wrote:
> > >
> > > Please be cautious here. I'll take this part of the discussion to
> > > legal-internal, but in the meantime please don't assume that being first in
> > > use is all that it takes everywhere in the world.
> >
> > Fair enough; but my point remains the same - whatever you do, just because it
> > wasn't trademarked - please don't borrow the name of an existing software, even
> > if it's long abandoned, for an ASF project name.
> >
> > Fair enough?
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
> > only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
> > constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
> > and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
> > official ASF policies and documents.
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
> > For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Matthias Wessendorf
>
> further stuff:
> blog: http://jroller.com/page/mwessendorf
> mail: mwessendorf-at-gmail-dot-com
>
--
Matthias Wessendorf
further stuff:
blog: http://jroller.com/page/mwessendorf
mail: mwessendorf-at-gmail-dot-com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: trademark issue
Posted by Matthias Wessendorf <ma...@apache.org>.
Bill,
thanks!
What we did was doing google search for software and trinidad.
We didn't found one. We searched the "" and the same for Germany "".
I *think* we are on a "good" way with that particular name "Apache
Trinidad" or "Apache MyFaces Trinidad".
Regards,
Matthias
On 7/20/06, William A. Rowe, Jr. <wr...@rowe-clan.net> wrote:
> Lawrence Rosen wrote:
> >
> > Please be cautious here. I'll take this part of the discussion to
> > legal-internal, but in the meantime please don't assume that being first in
> > use is all that it takes everywhere in the world.
>
> Fair enough; but my point remains the same - whatever you do, just because it
> wasn't trademarked - please don't borrow the name of an existing software, even
> if it's long abandoned, for an ASF project name.
>
> Fair enough?
>
> Bill
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
> only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
> constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
> and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
> official ASF policies and documents.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
>
>
--
Matthias Wessendorf
further stuff:
blog: http://jroller.com/page/mwessendorf
mail: mwessendorf-at-gmail-dot-com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
RE: trademark issue
Posted by Lawrence Rosen <lr...@rosenlaw.com>.
Fair enough! /Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William A. Rowe, Jr. [mailto:wrowe@rowe-clan.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 8:47 PM
> To: lrosen@rosenlaw.com
> Cc: legal-discuss@apache.org
> Subject: Re: trademark issue
>
> Lawrence Rosen wrote:
> >
> > Please be cautious here. I'll take this part of the discussion to
> > legal-internal, but in the meantime please don't assume that being first
> in
> > use is all that it takes everywhere in the world.
>
> Fair enough; but my point remains the same - whatever you do, just because
> it
> wasn't trademarked - please don't borrow the name of an existing software,
> even
> if it's long abandoned, for an ASF project name.
>
> Fair enough?
>
> Bill
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
> only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
> constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
> and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
> official ASF policies and documents.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: trademark issue
Posted by "William A. Rowe, Jr." <wr...@rowe-clan.net>.
Lawrence Rosen wrote:
>
> Please be cautious here. I'll take this part of the discussion to
> legal-internal, but in the meantime please don't assume that being first in
> use is all that it takes everywhere in the world.
Fair enough; but my point remains the same - whatever you do, just because it
wasn't trademarked - please don't borrow the name of an existing software, even
if it's long abandoned, for an ASF project name.
Fair enough?
Bill
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
RE: trademark issue
Posted by Lawrence Rosen <lr...@rosenlaw.com>.
William Rowe wrote:
> This is /really/ important. "Apache" and "Apache Software Foundation"
> are not /registered/ marks. However, they are under almost every nations'
> laws still a trade mark, with different but not necessarily less
> protection
> than a registered mark.
>
> If someone tried to register "Apache" it would be trivial in any
> jurisdiction
> to shoot down that attempt. Think of this in terms of protecting the name
> of a new ASF project down-the-road. The concept here is "First Use in
> Commerce". If we are first, we have the strongest claim.
Please be cautious here. I'll take this part of the discussion to
legal-internal, but in the meantime please don't assume that being first in
use is all that it takes everywhere in the world.
/Larry
Lawrence Rosen
Rosenlaw & Einschlag, a technology law firm (www.rosenlaw.com)
Stanford University, Lecturer in Law
3001 King Ranch Road, Ukiah, CA 95482
707-485-1242 * fax: 707-485-1243
Author of "Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and
Intellectual Property Law" (Prentice Hall 2004)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William A. Rowe, Jr. [mailto:wrowe@rowe-clan.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 8:12 PM
> To: Yonik Seeley
> Cc: Matthias Wessendorf; legal-discuss@apache.org
> Subject: Re: trademark issue
>
> Yonik Seeley wrote:
> > Personally, I used a combination of
> > 2) google, to avoid software products with the same name, even if
> > they aren't trademarked
>
> This is /really/ important. "Apache" and "Apache Software Foundation"
> are not /registered/ marks. However, they are under almost every nations'
> laws still a trade mark, with different but not necessarily less
> protection
> than a registered mark.
>
> If someone tried to register "Apache" it would be trivial in any
> jurisdiction
> to shoot down that attempt. Think of this in terms of protecting the name
> of a new ASF project down-the-road. The concept here is "First Use in
> Commerce". If we are first, we have the strongest claim.
>
> So if anyone in the computer industry has used your proposed project name
> in anything related to computing (even the model name for a desktop PC)
> then things become murky and we don't want that. Avoid existing names
> that
> have apparently ever been used for the name of software especially, and
> also
> for other computing-related things.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: trademark issue
Posted by "William A. Rowe, Jr." <wr...@rowe-clan.net>.
Yonik Seeley wrote:
> Personally, I used a combination of
> 2) google, to avoid software products with the same name, even if
> they aren't trademarked
This is /really/ important. "Apache" and "Apache Software Foundation"
are not /registered/ marks. However, they are under almost every nations'
laws still a trade mark, with different but not necessarily less protection
than a registered mark.
If someone tried to register "Apache" it would be trivial in any jurisdiction
to shoot down that attempt. Think of this in terms of protecting the name
of a new ASF project down-the-road. The concept here is "First Use in
Commerce". If we are first, we have the strongest claim.
So if anyone in the computer industry has used your proposed project name
in anything related to computing (even the model name for a desktop PC)
then things become murky and we don't want that. Avoid existing names that
have apparently ever been used for the name of software especially, and also
for other computing-related things.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org
Re: trademark issue
Posted by Yonik Seeley <ys...@gmail.com>.
On 7/20/06, Matthias Wessendorf <ma...@apache.org> wrote:
> each incubator project needs to make sure that no (software)
> trademarks are registed against it. There was a *free* seach engine
> for doing such a search. But that's history. What todo from now? I
> created a ticket in the incubator jira on that, with some *ideas*.
> Please check [1].
Personally, I used a combination of
1) United States Patent and Trademark Office website
2) google, to avoid software products with the same name, even if
they aren't trademarked
3) My employer's legal department
-Yonik
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: legal-discuss-unsubscribe@apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: legal-discuss-help@apache.org