[OSGeo-Board] FW: shirt logos

[Arnulf Christl]

On Tue, July 25, 2006 15:05, Dave McIlhagga wrote:
> Agreed with Frank - if we can get protection of "OSGeo" and "Open Source
> Geospatial Foundation" - that would be sensible.
>
> Dave

Against whom or what do we need any protection? What kind of protection
are we really going to get?

...
Using the "TM" lets the world know that the organization considers its
marks to be proprietary
...

Oh, funny that this word comes up here. :-) No the word is not bad. But we
do not need a small letter to tell the world that we really mean it.

...
and allows the organization to start to develop some goodwill in the marks.
...

Bear with me doing some 'lost in translation yoga' on 'goodwill'. Using
dict.leo.org it translates into 'Firmenwert' (company value [comm.]),
'Kulanz' (amiability, fairness, goodwill, kindness, obligingness, fair
dealing [econ.]) or 'Wohlwollen' (benevolence, courtesy, friendliness).

What kind of goodwill is protection by a tiny superior letter (thats
something like a tiny virago) going to give us?

...
Eventually, if OSGEO obtains a registration for its marks, then you'll
switch to using an "(R)" in superscript.
...

If you really want to know before switching - and as board member and
voter you should very much feel obliged to - then read through this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_trademark
In my opinion there are way too many backlinks to copyright, legal
enforcement, commercial property ownership and licensing to make me like
any of it in the context of OSGeo. We are not aiming at being yet another
traditional company, we are a foundation.

...
Very rough estimate of the fees to file one trademark in the U.S.
(including attorney time to prepare the application) are: $1100-1500.
This is just to file the application. Occasionally with some trademark
applications, you have problems with the trademark office objecting to
the mark or a third party opposing the application. If this happens,
additional fees will apply.  Based on what I've seen so far, I don't
have any reason to believe that a third party would oppose "OSGEO" or
the "OPEN SOURCE GEOPSPATIAL FOUNDATION" (our informal Google searches
came up very clean) but that is difficult to know in advance.
...

OK, so the registration valid for the US only would cost us 1500 bucks
(while we are shy of 300 to pay for lousy shirts...). To get some real
'protection' we'd need to register with more countries. Real costs only
start when someone somebody actually really starts bugging us by stealing
logo or words. The 'protection' by registering the trademark does not give
us anything beyond a theoretical right that has to be enforced by someone
who will cost us the real money.

Even without any (R)s we have quite a fair chance of being protected:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_trademark#Enforcing_trademark_rights

Having said all this bear in mind that I am a bloody layman. I am not
saying that anything that Jennifer Daehler said is not legally completely
correct and makes all the sense from the perspective of a large and
well-fortified corporation. I am not saying either that it would not be
perfectly legally correct to do it. It might even feel like common sense
to do it. I do question whether this kind of sense is what we need to
protect OSGeo.org.

Therefore I vote -1 on TM or (C) or (R) superscript in the logo or on the
web page. If you like those superior letters then in Borgs name put an
(O)pen there or a (F)ree or a (L)eft.

Best regards,

(still on vacation until 2006.08.04)

> Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>> Gary Lang wrote:
>>> Let's take up your suggestion.
>>> Board: do we want to do this?
>>> +1 from me
>>
>> Folks,
>>
>> I'm +1 on using the (tm) with OSGeo.   If we have board support on the
>> idea, I'll take it up with WebCom to update the web site to use it.
>>
>>> On the issue of registration: if the organization would like to pursue
>>> it and funds permitting, my suggestion would be to register the word
>>> mark "OSGEO" and (again, funds/desire permitting) the word mark "OPEN
>>> SOURCE GEOSPATIAL FOUNDATION".  I'm less concerned about a logo
>>> registration, especially to the extent that OSGEO or OPEN SOURCE
>>> GEOSPATIAL FOUNDATION are an element of the logo -- I'd recommend just
>>> continuing to designate the logo with a "TM" in superscript.
>>
>> My understanding was that "Open Source Geospatial Foundation" is
>> descriptive
>> and so would be difficult to protect as a trademark.
>>
>> Best regards,
>
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