IANAL - but I think what I'm going to say is common sense and is correct. Lawyers and common sense don't tend to go together, but in this case, common sense should win :)
First, please read Sacha's blog. It explains things. Secondly, I suspect, based from your tone and your additional post to another forum here, that you are really not interested in the answer or even asking a question you genuinely have. If you are merely just trying to stir up more hysteria, please go somewhere else to do that. Anyway, whether you are genuine and asked an honest question or not, I think the point to the question raised here is, "Can I advertise that I am a consultant specializing in expertise on the JBoss application server?" without paying JBoss, Inc. The answer to that is yes (which is what I think Scott was trying to say in his post). You do not need to pay JBoss, Inc. or be an official partner to do that. That's fair use. What isn't fair is if you name your company such that it has the name "JBoss" in it, or other JBoss trademarks. That's infringing because it makes you look like you are affiliated with JBoss, Inc. and you are attempting to benefit from a false relationship with JBoss, Inc. So, you can't name your consulting business, "JBoss Experts Group, LLC", as an example. Having your company web site "www.jbossexpertsgroup.com" is probably also off limits as well. This is no different than any other business in any other market. I can say, "John's AutoBody Shop" specializes in repairing "Mercedes Benz" vehicles. I can advertise that all I want - I never have to pay Mercedes for that - I don't even need to get their permission for that as far as I can tell. I'm utilizing the fair use of that trademarked name. What I can NOT say is, "Mercedez Benz Specialty" as the name of my company. I'm infringing on Mercedez Benz' trademark. If I do that, I made it look like I'm affiliated with Mercedez Benz the company; customers might think they are getting repairs straight from the manufacturer - in effect, I have diluted the value of the Mercedez Benz brand. There are plenty of examples of this type of thing over the decades - companies protecting their trademarks against dilution by asking people to cease and desist from squatting on a brand name in an improper way. But, to your particular question - sounds like you are fine. Please don't let the rabid rantings of blogs and the like scare you off (that is the definition of FUD, isn't it :-) If you truely are scared, then you may simply ask JBoss, Inc. (note: posting in this forum is not asking JBoss, Inc. - and remember, IANAL, and neither is anyone else here). There is nothing wrong with asking a company if a particular use of a trademark is OK. And more times than not, the company will say, "you are not violating the trademark, but thank you for your concern - go ahead and use it". Sacha's blog was attempting to address these concerns as well. But, again, based on your publicly displayed anomosity here, I suspect it isn't at all about you having a genuine question dealing with your desire to repect another company's trademark. If it was, I would have thought you would have followed the typical business and professional avenue of contacting the trademark owner's headquarters and asking for clarification. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3900986#3900986 Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&p=3900986 ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: Power Architecture Resource Center: Free content, downloads, discussions, and more. http://solutions.newsforge.com/ibmarch.tmpl _______________________________________________ JBoss-user mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jboss-user
