[Qgis-psc] Trademark issues

[Paolo Cavallini]

Il 09/10/2014 21:05, Andreas Neumann ha scritto:

> Sorry - I may have overreacted a bit. According to
> http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/trademark/index.html I understand
> that these sublicenses are only required if the name QGIS i part of a different
> product name or domain name, right?
> 
> How about if a local user group has a domain name where qgis is part of the domain
> name? Like qgis.ch, qgis.us, qgis.nl, etc.? According to
> http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/trademark/index.html I would have
> to request such a sub license.
> 
> I think the situation of a publisher using QGIS as part of the book title needs to be
> clarified in the FAQ section of
> http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/trademark/index.html

Hi all.
Thanks for your comments. This is very new ground for us, so IMHO we should not be
surprised nor worried about the need to clarify and fine tune.
First of all, I think we should not reinvent the wheel, but to follow as much as
possible what our "bigger brothers" have been doing for years, So I'll try to reply
following the good practices of Linux, Debian, and the like.
I find this page particularly clear:
https://www.debian.org/trademark
See:
===================================================================================
**When You Can Use the Debian Trademarks Without Asking Permission**

    You can use Debian trademarks to make true factual statements about Debian or
communicate compatibility with your product truthfully.
    Your intended use qualifies as "nominative fair use" of the Debian trademarks,
i.e., merely identifying that you are talking about Debian in a text, without
suggesting sponsorship or endorsement.
    You can use Debian trademarks to describe or advertise your services or products
relating to Debian in a way that is not misleading.
    You can use Debian trademarks to describe Debian in articles, titles or blog posts.
    You can make t-shirts, desktop wallpapers, caps, or other merchandise with Debian
trademarks for non-commercial usage.
    You can also make merchandise with Debian trademarks for commercial usage. In
case of commercial usage, we recommend that you truthfully advertise to customers
which part of the selling price, if any, will be donated to the Debian project. See
our donations page for more information on how to donate to the Debian project.

**When You Can NEVER Use the Debian Trademarks Without Asking Permission**

    You cannot use Debian trademarks in any way that suggests an affiliation with or
endorsement by the Debian project or community, if the same is not true.
    You cannot use Debian trademarks in a company or organization name or as the name
of a product or service.
    You cannot use a name that is confusingly similar to Debian trademarks.
    You cannot use Debian trademarks in a domain name, with or without commercial intent.
===================================================================================
Perhaps we should integrate some info from there in our
http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/trademark/index.html

As for specific questions:
* QGIS name and logo in Books - frankly I'm uncertain about this; of course citing it
in text is OK (see above), making a book called "QGIS manual" is making me scratching
my head
* QGIS name and logo in association names - IMHO they should ask us before using it
* companies offering QGIS services -
* fees - I do not see a big issue in asking for it; after all, our trademark costed
our donors a fair amount, and I think it is fair these expenses would be covered by
those who obtain practical advantages from our trademark use; however, to me the main
objective of the trademark is to encourage people to participate in the project, and
secondarily to prevent abuse; getting money out of the process is IMHO a side effect,
possibly a positive one.

A sublicence needs not to be an overcomplicated thing; maybe a note saying "you are
allowed the use of QGIS name and logo, provided that ..."
Perhaps we should:
* change the name of the agreement, and call it just "Permission to use", or
* have two different paths, one for permission, and one for sublicencing.

IMHO we can also decide to ask a lawyer for advice, even though this will involve
some costs.

Looking forward for your opinions.
All the best.
-- 
Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
Corsi QGIS e PostGIS: http://www.faunalia.eu/training.html