Francesco Poli wrote: > On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:41:45 +0200 Arnoud Engelfriet wrote: > > Yes, these are vague criteria but that is to a certain extent > > inherent in trademark law. You don't know what people will do > > and how that can affect your trademark. > > Wait, the Debian Project should clarify the intended meanings of the two > different logos, in order to inform users upfront about which uses will > be considered OK, and which will be deemed to be abuses...
Ok, then I would suggest moving that out of the first sentence and into a new paragraph. "The above exception only applies for the situations described in Exhibit Z". Then you can write an Exhibit Z for your own trademark(s). > | The sign [X] (hereafter "the Mark") is a trademark, rights to which > | are held by [Y] (hereafter "the Mark Holder"), representing [Z]. > > AFAIUI, this means that the sign [X] is a trademark that means or refers > to [Z]. Right. My problem with that is that Z can change over time, but the definition of Z won't change with that. > The trademark license should forbid people to use [X] to mean or refer > to something that is *not* [Z]. Suppose Debian becomes a free hardware company too. The license would still refer to software only, as it was written before that happened. Then can I use the sign Debian to promote my proprietary hardware company? The license only said I couldn't create confusion with the software parts of Debian. > [X] = Debian Open Use Logo > [Z] = Debian Project and Debian distributions > Nobody is allowed to use [X] (or a confusingly similar sign) to refer to > IBM, or to Slackware, or to Microsoft, or to MacOS X, ... Ehm, you can't do *that* in a trademark license. You can only complain if people use X to create confusion in relation to *you*. Saying "don't create confusion with anyone" goes beyond what you are allowed with your trademark. Anyway, in summary I think it could work to have some Z in there but I also think an exhibit is better. That at least avoids the impression that Z has to fit in (one part of) a single sentence, which probably is too short for most cases. Arnoud -- Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
