[haiku-inc] Re: RFC: additions to Trademark policy
- From: "Jorge G. Mare" <koki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-inc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:06:14 -0700
Hi Matt,
First, a few observations relative to the quoted passages.
Matt Madia wrote:
=-=-=-=-=-=
Haiku and the Haiku logo are trademarks of Haiku, Inc. This policy
presents the general ideas on trademark usage. Attempts to sidestep
this policy via loopholes, misinterpretation, or any similar method
will be treated as intentional violations. The objective of this
policy is to encourage and allow widespread use of the Haiku name and
logo, while protecting the trademarks from usage which would threaten
or cause harm to the image, name, and integrity of Haiku, the Haiku
Project, and Haiku Inc.
The "Attempts to sidestep..." sentence sounds very draconian. Is it
really necessary?
If your intended use is uncertain, please contact us
www.freelists.org/list/haiku-inc or privately at
http://haiku-os.org/contact
== Proper Name ==
Despite Haiku's domain of "haiku-os.org", the name of the product is
simply "Haiku". In general, notions of "operating system" should not be directly
connected as part of Haiku's name.
=== Acceptable references to Haiku ===
* Haiku
* Haiku Project
* Haiku, an open-source operating system
* Haiku, the operating system
* the operating system Haiku
=== Unacceptable/Discouraged ===
* Haiku OS
* Haiku Operating System
* the Haiku operating system
== Usage ==
=== Forbidden ===
The following examples of using Haiku's trademarks are require
explicit permission from Haiku Inc. :
* (un)intentionally mislead or confuse the end-user's perception of
your product as being officially endorsed by the Haiku Project or
Haiku Inc.
* generating income of any amount, see Non-Endorsed for a single exception
* altering trademarks (modifying backgrounds to match accompanying
artwork is allowed)
* anything that can place the Haiku Project or Haiku Inc. in legal
peril must be avoided
* Usage in any unlawful, defamatory, threatening, obscene,
pornographic or any other way which would degrade Haiku's reputation
or bring civil liability upon Haiku.
/me is confused... :) Why do you say permission is required for things
that are supposed to be forbidden? Unless I am missing something, this
is contradictory.
=== Permissible ===
These are examples of use that do not require permission:
* For any personal use
* Desktop wallpaper
* Web media such as buttons, icons, links, and screenshots
* Domain names, see Non-Endorsed
== 3rd Party Websites ==
=== Non-Endorsed ===
* Include a visible disclaimer on all pages : "<Domain Name> is not
affiliated with the Haiku Project, nor Haiku Inc.", www.haiku-os.org &
www.haiku-inc.org linked respectively
What is this requirement for? Sites that use "haiku" in their domain names?
* Cannot duplicate the look of any officially endorsed site without
prior authorization from Haiku Inc., as this may mislead website
visitors. (Websites without an custom theme, such as dev.haiku-os.org
are excluded for obvious reasons)
If you say "without prior authorization," that implies that it may be
possible that the project will authorize the use of the Haiku theme to
non-endorsed 3rd party websites? Is that the case? If so, what will be
the criteria to decide whether a site gets to use the theme and another
does not?
* Donation / Merchandise pages should explicitly mention that the
proceeds do not go towards the Haiku Project nor Haiku Inc.
1. This is the only exception on generating income
1. May not charge a service fee in order to download any items
containing trademarks
1. May not sell goods with trademarks
I am confused... Making a very wild guess, it looks like you want to
avoid third parties from using the trademarks for their own profit. Is
that what you mean?
=== Officially-Endorsed ===
* Officially endorsed websites cannot accept donations nor sell goods
via their site.
1. Linking to with Haiku's CafePress.com or .co.uk is encouraged
1. Linking to Haiku's donation page is encouraged.
* Encouraged to include a notice "<Domain Name> is officially
recognized and endorsed by the Haiku Project and Haiku Inc.",
www.haiku-os.org & www.haiku-inc.org linked respectively
* Failure to comply or attempts to find a loophole in the above
policy will result in the loss of official endorsement.
Hmmm... There seems to be no real incentive to become
officially-endorsed. Is that by design?
Now some general comments.
The intro clause says that the "objective of this policy is to encourage
and allow widespread use" of the trademarks, but how community members
can effectively use the trademarks to advance the Haiku cause is mostly
missing from the picture.
Overall, besides the several contradictions in the articulation that I
pointed out (admittedly, it may just be that I don't understand what you
meant), this RFC seems to have a lot of focus on giving Haiku Inc. a
strong grip but little on enabling and/or empowering the community. Not
that control is totally bad per se, but I think there needs to be a balance.
A better (healthier) policy, IMO, would be one that strikes a good
balance between the need to oversee the trademarks with a more welcoming
approach towards the community (think HUGs here) in the form of
incentives to becoming part of the project. The Ubuntu trademark policy
does a very good job at that.
FWIW and IMHO. Cheers,
--
Jorge/aka Koki
Website: http://haikuzone.net
RSS: http://haikuzone.net/rss.xml
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