<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear All,<br>
<br>
For what it's worth, it's worth seeking expert advice on this.<br>
<br>
Over the past many years, there are many many parties who have an
interest in & have used the FOSS4G trademark, which was the
clear intent. Permission from the various interested parties may
be needed to consolidate ownership of the trademark.<br>
<br>
Related in case it is helpful, this is how trademarks for project
names are handled at the Eclipse Foundation (& working groups
like LocationTech). In addition to the search, the Foundation's
legal team finds instances of that trademark being used and asks
their permission via. a transfer agreement. Aside: FWIW, somewhat
related, copyright remains in the hands of the original copyright
holders.<br>
<br>
In general, it seems to me that the discussion may be unduly
conflating concerns for steady/stable income with concerns for the
FOSS4G trademark.<br>
<br>
Andrew<br>
<br>
On 22/09/14 06:06, Steven Feldman wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:6ADECB6E-9007-458D-90F8-CC352EF9DA9A@gmail.com"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
Responding on Board and Conference lists as requested
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A trademark needs to be owned by a legal entity that is able
and willing to enforce it. I am not sure that it would be
possible to have the trademark owned by multiple entities, the
common approach is to license or authorise subsidiaries or
affiliates to use the trademark. There are costs of registration
which I imagine would be significantly less for one registration
rather than multiple registrations by local chapters - and what
about local chapters who do not wish to pursue this route
individually?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I don’t agree with Venka that we should leave the FOSS4G
brand "<i>to be "Free" for use. Rather than asking people to
seek "permission" for anyone, they should be encouraged to to
use it to spread it further by organizing big and small events
in their geographic vicinity. A "soft condition" could be set
that events that involve one or more Charter Members (CM) as
organizers are automatically entitled to use FOSS4G in naming
their local or regional event</i>.” If we want our events
programme to be the principal source of funding for our project
support, outreach and education activities then I think that we
need to manage it and set some rules around its usage. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ultimately the Board should be making a decision about the
usage of the FOSS4G brand after considering what it sees as the
purpose of the OSGeo foundation and what funding needs it has.
We are faced with a choice between continuing in the informal
and communal manner that has worked well for us up to now or
moving towards a more structured and professional approach as we
try to capitalise on the massive growth in interest in open
source geo software and solutions - no doubt, there are several
other options to consider</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It’s good that we have so many people who care so much</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse:
separate; border-spacing: 0px;">______<br>
Steven<br>
<br>
</span>
</div>
<br>
<div>
<div>On 21 Sep 2014, at 13:34, Jeroen Ticheler <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:jeroen.ticheler@geocat.net">jeroen.ticheler@geocat.net</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">Hi All,<br>
In the spirit of OSGeo it would be good to have all this
thread discussed on at least conference and board list. A
number of people that responded earlier on on this thread
have been excluded from this discussion and I'm sure we have
had many more reading it with interest. <br>
Thanks,<br>
Jeroen<br>
<br>
GeoCat Bridge for ArcGIS allows instant publishing of data
and metadata on GeoServer, MapServer, PostGIS and
GeoNetwork. Visit <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://geocat.net">http://geocat.net</a> for
details. <br>
_________________________<br>
Jeroen Ticheler<br>
GeoCat bv<br>
Veenderweg 13<br>
6721 WD Bennekom<br>
Tel: +31 (0)6 81286572<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://geocat.net">http://geocat.net</a><br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Op 21 sep. 2014 om 02:50 heeft
Venkatesh Raghavan <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:venka.osgeo@gmail.com"><venka.osgeo@gmail.com></a> het
volgende geschreven:<br>
<br>
Dear All,<br>
<br>
I am addressing this as personal mail to people with whom
I have<br>
discussed this matter earlier and also to some of you who
might<br>
be expecting some kind of response from my side to your
recent<br>
mails on the OSGeo mailing lists<br>
<br>
I have followed some of the discussions about the FOSS4G
Trademark<br>
and would like to mention the following;<br>
<br>
1) I do not think that the FOSS4G "Trademark" need/should
be the<br>
sole ownership of OSGeo Foundation registered in Delaware,
USA.<br>
FOSS4G has been used even before OSGeo was formed and has
been<br>
effectively used by Local Chapters (Japan etc.) almost
synonymous<br>
with the inception of OSGeo.<br>
<br>
2) If at all the FOSS4G "Trademark" is registered, it can
be registered<br>
by OSGeo Foundation for US territory and by Local Chapters
in their<br>
respective territories or region. Possibility of
considering Trademark<br>
registration for EU. I have talked to some of the local
chapter leaders<br>
and they feel that having such a distributed ownership of
FOSS4G Trademark is a good idea. Also less financial
burden on OSGeo foundation.<br>
<br>
3) FOSS4G has spread widely because we have put no
restrictions on the free usage of the FOSS4G acronym for
the legitimate purpose of promoting Free and Open Source
Software (recently, I use the word "Solution" instead of
"Software" to connote Software, Data and Standards
Geoinformatics).<br>
<br>
4) The think FOSS4G should remain to be "Free" for use.
Rather than<br>
asking people to seek "permission" for anyone, they should<br>
be encouraged to to use it to spread it further by
organizing big and<br>
small events in their geographic vicinity. A "soft
condition" could be<br>
set that events that involve one or more Charter Members
(CM) as<br>
organizers are automatically entitled to use FOSS4G in
naming their<br>
local or regional event. This would give the CMs<br>
responsibility of seeing that FOSS4G is used in the true
and right<br>
spirit.<br>
<br>
If you have any suggestions to improve/add the the above
points<br>
let me know in the next 12 hours after which we can send
in the<br>
OSGeo Mailing lists in which this issue have been raised.<br>
<br>
Best<br>
<br>
Venka<br>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>