[FOSS4G-Oceania] Motion: logo permission

[Martin Tomko]

Dear all,
As this discussion occurred over the weekend, I would
A/ move to extend the discussion period – I believe this is against our work/life balance and diversity policy to consider weekend discussions as sufficient time to voice.


I am also going to write down my concerns about the use of the Logo first, these are reasons that led me to vote against the use, and that I have not heard resolved/addressed yet:

Preamble: The logo is the only unifying item that binds and distinguishes this conference from other initiatives. It is meant to give identity to an event that has sought and received recognition from supporters locally and internationally, and went to great extents to act professionally, transparently, and build trust. This process is, in my eyes, not at the end yet. We explicitly stated the aspirational element of being the first in a series for FOSS4G Australia, including in our approach to financial disboursement. I would like to take this long-term view in the approach to this motion.

Situation: an unnamed party approaches one person on the committee with an informal, underspecified request to use the logo on T-shirts, where there is no publicly stated equal opportunity to other to do so. Issue: Whenever such situations arise (incl at work), we have a situation of discrimination – other were not given the same opportunity to ask for the logo, the process is not transparent and clear, the decision process is not formalised (speak my European genes), and the risks to the event/series are not assessed.

We currently do not have, to my best knowledge:

  *   A sorted situation regarding the copyrights of our logo ( have they been formally handed over to the committee?
  *   We do not have a steering group ( I called for the establishment of one some time ago in an email) for this FOSS4G Oceania series, that would allow for consistent handling of such requests for the future;
  *   We do not have a design manual that specifies how we are happy for this logo to be used, modified, etc.
  *   The use of the logo may increase our visibility in the community – maybe. But can we first, carefully, handle border cases? What if someone produces for-profit merchandise with this logo ( unlikely, but still).
  *   How do we ascertain that “<Company> - proud supporters of  FOSS4G SotM Oceania” is true. Are these platinum, gold, silver sponsors? Can the by supporters without sponsorship?


I support the arguments that:

  *   We want to be as permissive as possible, and bring community together- absolutely!
  *   Want to build an informal atmosphere of sharing and working together – absolutely! ( but good rules make good friends)
My concern is about precedents, and the lack of careful vetting., I do not believe that Open source is anarchy, I do not believe that open source is not commercial, and I believe that some sort of licence attached to the logo would be appropriate.

Thanks,
Martin



From: FOSS4G-Oceania <foss4g-oceania-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com>
Date: Monday, 24 September 2018 at 8:42 am
To: "foss4g-oceania at lists.osgeo.org" <foss4g-oceania at lists.osgeo.org>
Subject: [FOSS4G-Oceania] Motion: logo permission

Hi all, following our recent email discussion<http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/use-of-FOSS4G-SotM-Oceania-logo-td5378925.html> about the community use of the FOSS4G SotM Oceania logo, I want to frame this as a motion we can vote on, and move forward.

I understand there are concerns about retaining control over usage, so I propose:

MOTION: We adopt a permission-based approach to the use of our logo, where we can grant explicit permission for use, by request. Unless there are specific concerns about potential misuse of the logo, we will generally be permissive, and provide guidance along the lines of:

Hi <>,

We are glad to hear that you would like to embrace the ethos of FOSS4G and make use of the FOSS4G SotM Oceania logo. We are fine with this use, but ask that you be mindful of the following:

* Please make it clear that we are not endorsing your company or brand, although we'd be happy if you wish to endorse us, such as "<Company> - proud supporters of  FOSS4G SotM Oceania".

* Please avoid confusion where people might think that the wearers of the shirt are official event organisers, maybe by making our logo small compared to other artwork on the shirt.
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