Simon Phipps wrote: > > On Apr 20, 2007, at 17:22, Eric Boutilier wrote: > >> Steve, nice! > > > Nice piece of work, Stephen, thanks for taking all that trouble. > >> >> So even though this is still in the draft stage, there's no reason >> not to >> start using it now to help new project owners avoid opening projects >> with >> unsuitable names. With that in mind, currently there are 3 recent >> proposals >> that are in the process of opening. Here are the proposed names and >> my take >> (comments welcome of course) on the disposition of each. > > > We do have to take into account that trademark collisions still have to > be avoided, even though we're only talking about projects here. Since > OpenSolaris is hosted by Sun, Sun remains liable for any infringement > of trademark law anywhere in the world. Since Sun is perceived as > having deep pockets, that could well lead to unexpected lawsuits, which > these days can come with substantial invoices attached to the cease & > desist letter. > > I believe Sara will be able to give more detailed guidelines, but in > general, names should aim to be descriptive. If a "decorative" name is > wanted, at least check on Google whether it's in use anywhere in a way > that's connected with IT before suggesting it.
Sara and I have been in ongoing discussions with Trademark people for some time, but we have yet to figure out any kind of approval process. Your statement is the best advice: stick to descriptive names that use common words and industry-wide common terms. Descriptive names are best from a trademark perspective. But also from a perspective of inclusiveness. People on various OpenSolaris mail aliases have commented in the past that descriptive names help people understand what is happening in the community. 'Decorative' names are hard to track and can obscure the technology they represent - to the point of potentially being a barrier to entry. Bonnie > >> >> Eric >> >> Proposed name: Open Fabrics User Verbs / API support on Solaris >> O.K. (similar to OpenGrok) > > > OK - Descriptive. > >> >> Proposed name: CPK Cryptosystem >> O.K. (similar to CIFS) > > > OK - Descriptive. > >> >> Proposed name: Project Tesla: Solaris Enhanced Power Management >> Not O.K. >> Suggest: "Tesla: Solaris Enhanced Power Management" >> (similar to... several, e.g. Reno and Tamarack) > > > Not OK - Decorative. > > * The use of "Project" as a prefix was probably an attempt to mitigate > any trademark impact, so scrapping it might not be smart > * the actual problem is the use of the noun "Tesla", which is the name > of a company that makes radio transmitters (http:// www.tesla.cz/). > Might not be a problem, but we'd need to spend > $10k with a lawyer to > be completely sure. > * Including "Solaris" or "OpenSolaris" in the name is redundant since > the community already acts as a container for the project and has that > name. In addition, should the project ever get a purpose outside the > scope of OpenSolaris there would be a trademark issue for Sun. > _______________________________________________ > ogb-discuss mailing list > ogb-discuss at opensolaris.org > http://opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/ogb-discuss
