Hi, Julien Fourgeaud wrote: > Problem: MeeGo Trademark usage not allowed for grass root initiatives > MeeGoLandia, a MeeGo conference in Tampere, Finland, > aiming at > increasing the awareness of MeeGo over there, has > been asked to change > their name by the Linux Foundation because of > Trademark issues. > Solution: Have clear guidelines on what the Trademark protects and why, > so that we > the community could still use the name to promote the > brand.
Trademarks are always tricky for free software projects, because of the way trademark law works (and, more importantly, is perceived to work) in the US: I've written about this a couple of times: http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2006/06/16/feed-icon-madness/ and http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2008/04/28/trademarks/ The SFLC legal primer I link to in the second article is definitely worth a read, if you have a spare half hour. And the comments on that blog post are worth a read too (if only to correct what I got wrong!). In this specific case, it seems like the MeeGo trademark would not have a claim over the use of MeeGo in an event name. Looking at the trademark registration: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:mi6n4v.3.2 the MeeGo trademark covers the following domain of use: > IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Operating system software; > software for use in developing, executing, and running other software on > mobile devices, computers, computer networks, and global communication > networks; computer software development tools; computer software for use > in transmitting and receiving data over computer networks and global > communication networks; computer software for managing communications > and data exchange among and between mobile devices and desktop > computers; computer middleware, namely, software that mediates between > the operating system of a mobile device and the application software of > a mobile device; computer application software for mobile phones, > namely, software for facilitating voice and data exchange and data > communication among and between mobile devices No mention of events there. For comparison, the infamous Web 2.0 trademark registered by O'Reilly is here: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:7vdj3s.2.3 So if I were the MeegoLandia organisers, I would politely decline to change the name on trademark grounds, but would ask the Linux Foundation person if perhaps they had suggestions for a better name. Cheers, Dave. -- maemo.org docsmaster Email: [email protected] Jabber: [email protected] _______________________________________________ MeeGo-community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.meego.com/listinfo/meego-community
