On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 6:28 AM, Jörg Schmidt <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > I have been a member for Apache, but a few days before the PMC committer > privileges offered me, and I see myself in the obligation *to respect* the > rules of Apache. > *And I will respect* the rules of Apache. > > But what are the rules? What do I need, what we all need to write? >
The rules are here: http://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/ The most-common questions are answered there, as well as a good bit of theory. > "Apache OpenOffice™" > > or only: > > "Apache OpenOffice" > > And Why? > What make it confusing is that there are three different contexts that we need to think about: 1) How do we refer to trademarked terms on our own Apache pages, blog posts, in the product, etc.? 2) What are the restrictions for 3rd parties who refer to the trademarks? 3) What additional requests do we ask of 3rd parties in return for giving them additional permissions? Here's how I understand it (but look to the above link for the official ASF description): For our own web pages and product we want to make it clear which terms and images are our trademarks. We do that by putting the (TM) or (R) symbol as appropriate, in the *first use* in each page, and by giving a trademark statement in the footer of the page. This is generally accomplished automatically by the website template, so no additional effort is typically required of website authors. For 3rd parties, the important thing to know is that a range of uses, called nominative use, is allowed by law. This is analogous to fair use with copyright. Under nominative use a 3rd party can call use the name "Apache OpenOffice" to refer to the product Apache OpenOffice. But they cannot use the term or a variation of the term to refer to something else. The logo is treated similarly, but the range for nominative use is narrower. A 3rd party can use the logo to refer to the logo itself. For example, if someone is writing an article about the history of open source logos they could include the logo and say, "This is the Apache OpenOffice logo". That would be nominative use. Occasionally we get requests from 3rd parties who want to go beyond nominative use. For example the PrOOoBox DVD, or the X-ApacheOpenOffice from WinPenPack. In those cases the PMC reviews the request and, if approved, asks for the stronger form of trademark acknowledgement, as well as a link back to the www.openoffice.org website. The idea is that when you go beyond mere nominative use, there is greater risk that the visitor to the 3rd party site will confuse it for an official Apache site, so we ask for additional language on that page to make it clear that it is an independent website. > > Please note : > it would seem to me wrong to write in > http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultant-submission.html > > " ... Note : Our official name is now Apache OpenOffice™." > > but in practice do the opposite. > > Rules are good, but rules must be clear, so if we want to, we only use > "Apache OpenOffice", then this should be so in the rules. > > I think rules are important, and rules must be clear and must be the same for > all, but what are the rules here *exactly*? > The rules are in the ASF page linked to above. Under the rules any deviation from nominative use must be approved by the PMC and the ASF VP of Branding. But note that consults listings are generally only nominative use. We not giving them permission to use the product logo or to brand their offering as "Apache OpenOffice Services". > > > Please also understand my experiences: > > Personally, I have, on a petition which reached me, wrote to several German > companies and noted that they can register in our list ( > http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultant-submission.html ) . > > I have also helped some companies there, and have kept to the clear rules > that Apache has set for it, such as the clear statement: > > " ... Note: Our official name is now Apache OpenOffice™." > > Similarly, we were at the PrOOo box, prompted by the OpenOffice PMC to be > marked accordingly on the PrOOo box: > > "Provide an explicit trademark attribution in the footer. Something > like: "Apache, the Apache feather logo, and OpenOffice are trademarks of > The Apache Software Foundation. OpenOffice.org and the seagull logo are > registered trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation" > > > Is it _just an option_ to do that? I think not, because _I think it must be > done so_. > Do you see now the distinction between using a logo on a DVD versus referring to "Apache OpenOffice" on a 3rd party website? Regards, -Rob > > > Greetings, > Jörg > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
