[gentoo-nfp] "Gentoo" registered trademark

[Grant Goodyear]

I just received the paperwork certifying that "GENTOO" is now a
registered trademark of the US.  What that means is that Swift's notices
of infringement now have not only the force of (US) law behind them, but
a bit more urgency, too, since we are required to protect the trademark.

So, here's what we're going to need:

1. All Gentoo docs need some sed magic to put the registered trademark
   symbol (that R-in-a-circle thingy) after "Gentoo" wherever it is
   used.  (Alternatively, one can use the words "Registered in the U.S.
   Patent and Trademark Office" or "Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.")
   I'm not sure right now what needs to be done with text docs (such
   as man pages).  
2. We need to establish procedures to identify and challenge the use by
   others of conflicting marks.  We have 13 trustees right now, so my 
   feeling is that we should have one person whose major trustee job
   is dealing with this issue, and we should probably also have a backup
   person for those times when the lead is unavailable.
3. We need to decide if we want to file in ther countries.  Right now we
   have only done so in the US.  I have no idea what the cost involved
   would be.
4. The foundation must submit a declaration of continued use between the
   fifth and sixth years after the registration date, otherwise we lose the
   trademark.  Filing that declaration also gets us certain rights of
   incontestability, so it's a darn important thing.
5. The foundation must renew the trademark within ten years of the
   registration date.  Incidentally, the official registration date is
   12 July 2005.  After the first ten years the requirement is a renewal
   every additional ten years.

-g2boojum-
-- 
Grant Goodyear	
Gentoo Developer
g2boojum@g.o
http://www.gentoo.org/~g2boojum
GPG Fingerprint: D706 9802 1663 DEF5 81B0  9573 A6DC 7152 E0F6 5B76