> This point make me think that with trademark we are not Free As In > Freedom and so, we all need something more corresponding to our way of > think: Freedom.
Can you please explain what you mean? For example, we say that free software is free as in freedom (or a matter of liberty not price). But when someone asks us to explain further, we explain that by "freedom" we are referring to a specific set of freedoms: The freedom to run the program, the freedom to share it with others, the freedom to study and make changes it to the program, and the freedom to share the changes you have made with others. Perhaps it would be help to complete a sentence along these lines: "with trademarks, I do not have the freedom to: [fill in the blank]". Also, below I have shared some of the things the FSF has stated about trademark. Perhaps you could compare and contrast your own position with ours? Is your position that of 'with trademark we are not free as in freedom' compatible with the FSF's position, use, and policies around trademark? If not, can you explain the differences? "The purpose of Trademark law, by contrast, was not intended to promote any particular way of acting, but simply to enable buyers to know what they are buying." https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html Here is a summary that more or less captures the position of the FSF on trademark as it applies to free software: Trademarks are associated with some software. For example, the name of a program may be trademarked, or its interface may display a trademarked logo. Often, the use of these marks will be controlled in some way; in particular, developers are commonly asked to remove references to the trademark from the software when they modify it. In extreme cases, these restrictions may effectively render the program nonfree. It is unfair for someone to ask you to remove a trademark from modified code if that trademark is scattered all throughout the original source. As long as the practical requirements are reasonable, however, free system distributions may include these programs, either with or without the trademarks. Similarly, the distribution itself may hold particular trademarks. It is not a problem if modification requires removal of these trademarks, as long as they can readily be removed without losing functionality. The GNU GPL version 3 allows users modifying a work to, notwithstanding any other provision of the license, to add terms "Declining to grant rights under trademark law for use of some trade names, trademarks, or service marks;" http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html#section7 I would also like to point out that GNU is a registered trademark of the FSF and we do from time to time enforce this trademark. > > Thank *LibreMark* Born \o/ > > http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibreMark > > Now, we need lawyer improvement to make it powerfull and to protect our > freedom higher. It might be useful to have a group focused on discussing trademarks. However, after reading the LibreMark page, it is not clear to me the purpose, goals, or function of the LibreMark. It might be that there is a reason for the LibreMark, but, I'm hesitant to start something new from scratch if it is not necessary. To help us better understand what it is you are trying to accomplish, perhaps it would help (and be productive in general) if more context was provided. For example, maybe you could set the stage by providing a couple paragraphs that give some basic overview of trademarks, such as: * The purpose of trademark and related concepts (e.g., service marks, certification marks, Wordmark, trade dress). * Classification of trademarks and the general regulatory framework they exist inside of * How to identify trademarks and service marks (e.g, ™, ℠, ®), and the difference between registered vs unregistered trademarks. Then you could transition to how trademark, service marks, etc. apply to free software. And then you could could state the problem you wish to solve by creating the libremark and how you imagine the LibreMark to work or be used. For related or supporting activity around this group or effort, I would be interested in understanding more about some of the initiatives and activities by others in our community. For example: * I would like to know what people think of the Model Trademark Guidelines for FLOSS projects: <http://modeltrademarkguidelines.org>. I have not had a chance to look into this project but I hope to do so sometime in the future. * I would be interested in a review of the Wikimedia Foundation trademark policy and the quality/usefulness of their supporting materials: * <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_policy> * <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Visual_identity_guidelines> * <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_policy-purpose> * <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Trademark_policy-FAQ> Best, Josh -- Joshua Gay Licensing & Compliance Manager <http://www.fsf.org/licensing> Free Software Foundation <https://donate.fsf.org> GPG key ID: 8DA625BB What's a GPG key ID? See our Email Self-Defense Guide: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org>
