Re: [gentoo-trustees] trademark registration update, legal expenses

[Sven Vermeulen]

On Tue, Oct 05, 2004 at 01:21:23PM -0600, Daniel Robbins wrote:
> 2) Progress on getting the "g" logo registered isn't going as well. The
> UST&PO wants a black and white, non-dithered version of the logo, which of
> course doesn't exist, and if it did exist would not look like our friendly
> "g" logo anyway (so I'm not sure how valuable the registered trademark would
> be even if we got it.) The UST&PO will only register trademarks that can be
> represented in black and white without shading, and the "g" logo is clearly
> not in this category. My lawyers are happy to keep trying to get it
> registered (and charging me/us several thousand dollars for their time) but
> this doesn't seem like a smart course of action.
>
> What I plan to do: stop trying to register the "g" logo and just follow
> through and get the "gentoo" name registered. This also seems to make sense
> seeing that the Gentoo Web site redesign is underway and it looks like we
> will be getting a new logo for Gentoo anyway. We can still use copyright to
> protect misuse of the "g" logo, and still use it as a trademark, just not a
> registered one.

Indeed; the G logo still is original artwork and therefore protected by the
copyright laws. Since you're the G author, you hold the copyright, so you
might want to consider one of the following actions:
- License the "G" usage to the public under certain conditions (possibly,
  if you agree on them, those already discussed here and available at
  http://dev.gentoo.org/~swift/name_logo.html)
- License the "G" logo to the Gentoo Foundation with broader conditions and
  with the explicit statement that the Gentoo Foundation can license out the
  G logo with stricter conditions only (if you understand what I mean here)
- Transfer G logo copyright to Gentoo Foundation (*)


(*) I know that with Belgian law you can easily do this without having to 
    register the artwork itself (since it now is "artwork", not a logo), not 
    sure about American law. It just involves a written statement.

    Also, in Belgian law, the author keeps the so-called "moral" rights,
    which means you are allowed to:
    - change the artwork
    - retreat artwork from public usage
    - fight abuse of the artwork

> Also, since these bills do end up being quite significant when totalled up,
> I am going to try to keep the Foundation informed of all the Foundation and
> trademark-related legal expenses. Right now, the foundation has an
> outstanding bill from Wayne Chew of $646.73 for assistance related to
> setting up the Foundation. I will use Store donations as well as some money
> from the Store to pay this off, and give you a break-down of donations to
> date when I do this.
>
> The trademark registration (handled by peacocklaw.com) is still getting
> billed to Gentoo Technologies, Inc. I'll keep you informed of amounts and
> use the donation money set aside to also help with the cost. The Store will
> chip in with financial assistance when it can.

Ok, thanks for the update.

Wkr,
      Sven Vermeulen

-- 
  Documentation & PR project leader

  The Gentoo Project   <<< http://www.gentoo.org >>>