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

Fri Jul 5 08:02:53 PDT 2013

Hi,

Protecting 'QGIS' as a trademark is also in our (Sourcepole's) interest.
The Linux trademark program [1] seems like a good example, how to handle this.

Pirmin

[1] http://www.linuxfoundation.org/programs/legal/trademark

Am Freitag, 5. Juli 2013, 12.44:35 schrieb Vincent Picavet:
> Hello,
> 
> Good to raise this issue. A few comments on that point.
> 
> I think Sourcepole move and product is really fine, actually needed, and a
> sign of maturity for both QGIS as a product, and as a strong GIS market
> element. NextGIS also has such an offer, and we could also be in a position
> to offer such QGIS specific version.
> 
> I recently realized that someone uses the formation-qgis.com website name
> ("qgis-training.com" would be the english translation), and as such uses the
> qgis name as their own brand. As said, this leads to confusion and
> problematic situations for QGIS as a project.
> 
> I would support Tim's and Otto suggestion, to have a name trademark policy
> similar to the firefox one : you can use the brand as long as you talk about
> the unmodified product as offered by the official QGIS project. Otherwise
> find your own name which should not lead to confusion.
> 
> We could allow some exceptions to that, granted explicitely by the PSC, for
> specific cases like linux distributions or OSGeo4W which for various reason
> could have a need for modified QGIS versions (to avoid the firefox/iceweasel
> story in debian).
> 
> It would therefore be good to have a written trademark policy available to
> anyone, so as to avoid general confusion of what QGIS is and where it comes
> from.
> 
> As for the specific SourcePole case, that is a discussion to have with them
> in order to find a solution suitable for all, but we really need to have
> something generic and avoid any favoritism.
> 
> I'm not on the PSC, but this is a general +1 for Tim's suggestions.
> 
> Vincent
> 
> > I agree with Tim. Before the latest thread on the lists, I wasn't really
> > aware, that there could be confusion about the Sourcepole products and the
> > QGIS project. But I understand that the names QGIS Cloud or QGIS
> > Enterprise
> > might cause irritations and other problems for the project as described by
> > Tim below.
> > 
> > In the case of Sourcepole I also wouldn't see problem with their products
> > itself. They fills a gap for users and companies that we as an open source
> > (voluntary) project can't provide - at least not at the moment.
> > 
> > But as Tim said, it is a general problem, an open door, that anybody can
> > use the name QGIS for any kind of product - and this is definitely not
> > what I want. So I also see the need to find a solution for this and
> > support Tim's suggestions:
> > 
> > - Trademark QGIS
> > - Find a solution with Sourcepole (and maybe with others as well?) that we
> > 
> >   all can live with.
> > 
> > Regards
> > Otto
> > 
> > Am Fri, 5 Jul 2013 09:05:39 +0200
> > 
> > schrieb Tim Sutton <tim at linfiniti.com>:
> > > 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
> > 
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> 
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-- 
Freundliche Grüsse / Kind regards

Pirmin Kalberer            @PirminKalberer
Sourcepole - Linux & Open Source Solutions
Weberstrasse 5, 8004 Zürich,   Switzerland
Tel: 044 440 77 11   Direkt: 044 51 567 77
pka at sourcepole.ch http://www.sourcepole.ch