[Qgis-psc] Use of and trademarking of the name 'QGIS'

[Tim Sutton]

Hi Folks

With the recent announcement from Pirmin about 'QGIS Enterprise' I think it
would be good to resurface the discussion of trademarking the name 'QGIS'.
I know Paolo did raise this once before but we did not really progress the
discussion.

I know this discussion is going to be a little complicated by a) the fact
that Marco is one of the fine folks behind Sourcepole and b) there are
plenty of other precedents of the name 'QGIS' being used for 'unofficial
products', so please understand I do not wish to be inflammatory in this
email.

However it is my position that we should restrict the use of 'QGIS' in
product names to only those products that are officially products of
QGIS.org. The use of QGIS in third party products / derivative products is
for me problematic on a few counts:

* *it creates confusion* - people will have an automatic expectation that
the project in question is freely available and part of the standard
offerings of QGIS.org. There is also the very likely possibility that we
start getting misdirected enquiries for third party products arriving on
our mailing lists and in our inboxes.

* *it limits our options* - case in point, if we as a project ever decide
to produce an 'enterprise' version of QGIS, we no longer have the option to
do so as there is already another product out there with the same name.

* *it signifies endorsement *- someone using the name 'QGIS' in their
product is leading the users of that product to believe that it is endorsed
by QGIS.org which probably isn't the case.

I think there are plenty of other established reasons why it is a good idea
for us to control how the name QGIS should be used. In the case of QGIS
Enterprise (Sourcepole product), I have absolutely no problem that it
exists, but I do think the names 'QGIS Enterprise' and 'QGIS Cloud' etc
leave scope for significant confusion amongst our users. People have
already been asking about 'can they have it, can they have the source' etc.
and I  would prefer that for any product that carries the QGIS name, the
answer to these questions should always be an unequivocal 'YES!' since deep
within the ethos of our project is the concept of a 'GIS for everyone'.

*What is my suggestion? *

* I would respectfully ask the Sourcepole team to consider renaming their
products to something that does not carry in QGIS in the name unless they
are wholly a product of the QGIS.org project. E.g. Sourcepole GIS,
Sourcepole Cloud.

* I think we should pursue the idea of trademarking QGIS, ,QGIS.org and
require that any product that carries the name originate or be in the
collective control of the QGIS.org project.


I think the definition of what is an official QGIS product warrants further
discussion and I really hope this email starts a healthy and reasoned
debate on the issue in the spirit in which this message itself is sent.

Best regards

Tim




-- 
Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
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Visit http://linfiniti.com to find out about:
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