[haiku] Re: Trademark
- From: "François Revol" <revol@xxxxxxx>
- To: haiku@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:59:08 +0100 CET
> On Thu, 2009-10-29 at 15:52 -0500, Dane Scott - TuneTracker Systems
> wrote:
> > > Both are trademarks, and both will get registered.
> >
> > Ok, got it, thanks Koki. So to be sure I understand it exactly
> > right, the
> > word Haiku and the Haiku logo are ok to use as a way of indicating
> > the
> > product "contains Haiku," but any product containing haiku
> > shouldn't include
> > Haiku in the product name, and any product logo shouldn't contain
> > the haiku
> > logo. Sound about right?
>
First trademark only exist in a specific area of products/services.
You don't own a trademark for "all possible thing".
This allows things like Linux (the OS kernel) and Linux (the washing
powder) to both be valid trademarks in some countries.
Then, usually both the name itself and the logo are registered.
Often they are at the same time, especially when the name itself is
represented typographically in the logo.
Else you see things like "the Foobar logo and the name foobar are
registered trademarks of Foobar, Inc."
But AFAIK it's enough to apply for a semi-graphical mark, and cheaper.
> Also, my personal opinion is that commercial products that build on
> the
> Haiku technology and benefit from the value proposition of its brand
> should require a license on a case by case basis. This is not covered
> anywhere currently, so it's not something that you have to worry
> about
> now; but it may change in the future.
Trademark holders are free to licence it to any party it wishes.
In theory one has to declare it to the TM office, but in practice it
costs some bucks, so I don't think it's worth doing.
Besides, trademark must be defended by the owner.
It is not actively protected, it's just a registry, that serves as
proof in case of litigation.
So as long as you are ok with someone using the TM, just don't sue him,
but again I'm not a lawyer, and it might depend.
As for infringement, it's up to the judge usually, and I think the
intent is accounted for. Like one can use the same style of logo even
if it's not "Haiku", or use "Haiku" with a different style, or
something alike, as long as it's in the same categories in the Nice
classification (and possibly others, if the intent is to mislead people
to think Haiku, Inc also sells food for ex), and the will is to make
people think it is the same, or use the renown of Haiku.
Also, in France at least, one can apply for a "collective trademark",
that anyone complying to a charter is free to use. Those are used for
things like food quality labels (organic food, ...)
It could someday be used for things like "Haiku compatible" maybe.
François.
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