[Incubator] Re: [GRASS-PSC] Definition of a Project

[Frank Warmerdam]

Brad Douglas wrote:
> On Sun, 2007-03-11 at 20:04 -0700, Michael Barton wrote:
>> Out of curiosity, is there anything beyond open source etiquette to prevent
>> someone less well-intentioned from creating a new GIS (open source or
>> commercial) and naming it GRASS II (or something like this) to capitalize on
>> GRASS's reputation?
> 
> There is little to stop anyone from using a similar (or GRASS for that
> matter) name.  All we have is prior use, which usually has little effect
> on trademark law.
> 
> IMO, GRASS should trademarked.  A trademark is not guarantee, either.
> It must also be used properly to yield maximum legal protection.  This
> information came from a discussion with a patent attorney.  It's a
> little outside his field, so the information may not be 100% correct.
> I'm not privy how this works internationally, either...only United
> States law.
> 
> What is OSGEO's position about copyright/trademark law?
> 
> If deemed needed, I could file on behalf of GRASS in the US.  I could
> absorb the $50 filing fee, but there is a larger fee (~$325 per
> "classification") I cannot absorb when "classes" are granted.  This
> generally grants a trademark for a period of 10 years.

Brad,

Note, legally registering a trademark can be somewhat onerous, but you
can just assert a trademark ( (tm) instead of (R) ) and that carries quite
a bit of weight from a legal point of view.  That is what we decided to
do for "OSGeo".

If GRASS considers it important, we could look at (tm) issues, or even
possibly registering the GRASS trademark.  But I'd hesitate before getting
overly legalistic about this if there isn't really a compelling problem.

IMHO

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org