Re: GNOME Trademark license and useage guidelines

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

On Iau, 2005-03-24 at 22:50, Tim Ney, GNOME Foundation wrote:
> Can you post questions to the WiKi for one-stop review?
> http://live.gnome.org/Trademark

"You may not edit this page" - and UserPreferences seems to be missing a
privacy policy...

Anyway:

User group:  A *lot* better than before. Still a little broken but going
in the right direction. Four issues that haven't yet been raised on the
wiki page:

- Jurisdiction clause is invalid in some countries. Worse it may be
enforcable in others.

- Domain name stuff allows GNOME to hijack arbitary domains of anyone
who signs it. If they register a mark in the US for a name already used
outside the US then the user group must hand over the domain.

- Print format includes T-Shirts (non-commercial) - is that intentional.

- Requirement for statement on the usergroup case doesn't allow
translations so will have comical results in some countries, and even
could prevent the license being signed in others

	Suggest you add "and/or appropriate approved translations"


- Usage Guidelines - look basically sane. Given what GNOME is about
suggest adding areas in which the mark is held. Also something to make
it more friendly such as

	"You may have other rights and restrictions in US or other national 
	 law on the use of the marks. It is not the intent of this document
	 to claim to deny you such rights. Trademark law is a complex field
	 and a full explanation would require a complete textbook. If in 
	 doubt consult your attorney"

The paranoid part of me says it should also say

	"No part of these usage guidelines shall be held to form a contract
	 between GNOME and another party"

This is real progress. I'll continue to use the GNOME marks from the GPL
copies I received and assert estoppel rather than sign such a license
but its getting there.

Alan