Unless Google can prove it predated the early 1700s in Netherlands (the origin of the word), then the name can be used.
If you try to use the name Android to market a product for use with Google's Android....then you will have some challenges. But it's not likely they would win anything unless they can prove you are purposely trying to mislead consumers into believing you are an authority of the OS and not Google. It all really comes down to intent. Companies want to protect their IP. Now, given the idea that the project is open source, then you should be fine using 'droid' in anything but always make sure you have a disclaimer and that usually covers your butt. I.E. Chrysler is pretty protective of their branding , especially of their Mopar name. This site uses a disclaimer (as does every other site with the word Mopar in it): http://mr-mopar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6 On Sep 2, 4:36 pm, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: > Looks like Google got bounced again on their most recent attempt to trademark > Android in Europe. Their request has been has been stuck on the absolute > grounds check for nearly a month when most trademarks go through this quite > quickly. > > Al. > > -- > > * Looking for Android apps?, tryhttp://andappstore.com/* > > ====== > Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the > company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, > 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. > > The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not > necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's > subsidiaries. > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shane Isbell > Sent: 02 September 2009 20:16 > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: [android-discuss] Re: Using "droid" in domain names...??? > > I think the issue is that Google doesn't want people to mistake a site or > application as an official Google one. If you cross that line, you may get > into trouble. Some months ago, at SlideME, Google contacted us because we > used their font for the word 'Android'. It seemed like a fair complaint, so > we removed it from our site. > > In regards to the use of the term Android itself, Google doesn't own the > trademark; they have just applied for it and are awaiting for approval (which > I doubt will go through, but we will see). In this specific case, their > branding guidelines aren't really enforceable, yet. As far as I know, Google > hasn't gone after sites like AndroidGuys, as we all know they aren't an > official Google site. I'm sure that if they started pulling something to make > themselves look like an official site, Google would stomp them flat for the > use of 'Android' in the name. > > If you go to our slideme twitter link (below), you will see that we say: "The > alternative application marketplace for Android." This indicates to users we > aren't 'The Android Market.' just a market for Android. Even open-source > projects are pretty protective of their name, even if they don't have the > trademark, so common courtesy suggests the use of 'for Project[X]' so people > know it's not an official project of Project[X]. > > I don't agree that Google should protect the word 'Droid', that is going too > far in my opinion. > > -- > Shane Isbell (Co-founder of SlideME > LLC)http://twitter.com/sisbellhttp://twitter.com/slideme --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
