Gentoo Archives: gentoo-trustees

From: Paul de Vrieze <pauldv@g.o>
To: gentoo-trustees@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-trustees] trademark registration update, legal expenses
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2004 08:52:09
Message-Id: 200410061051.51674.pauldv@gentoo.org
In Reply to: [gentoo-trustees] trademark registration update, legal expenses by Daniel Robbins
1 On Tuesday 05 October 2004 21:21, Daniel Robbins wrote:
2 > 2) Progress on getting the "g" logo registered isn't going as well. The
3 > UST&PO wants a black and white, non-dithered version of the logo, which
4 > of course doesn't exist, and if it did exist would not look like our
5 > friendly "g" logo anyway (so I'm not sure how valuable the registered
6 > trademark would be even if we got it.) The UST&PO will only register
7 > trademarks that can be represented in black and white without shading,
8 > and the "g" logo is clearly not in this category. My lawyers are happy
9 > to keep trying to get it registered (and charging me/us several
10 > thousand dollars for their time) but this doesn't seem like a smart
11 > course of action.
12
13 Is there any idea on what the registration of a "black and white" tradmark
14 would cost additionally? The reason I ask is that while our actual logo
15 isn't black and white, the comparison with potential infringements will
16 also be based on the black and white picture. There certainly is
17 potential to create a similar logo without infringing on the copyright.
18 In such a case trademark law can be very helpfull as it protects against
19 usage of "similar" words/images as trademark, while copyright only
20 protects against the use of the "actual" images we use. A black and white
21 Outline should be enough for trademark purposes as the point is to
22 protect against similarity, not "being the same". As an advantage the
23 black-and-white version would allow us to do recoloring restyling of the
24 logo while still having it protected.
25
26 > What I plan to do: stop trying to register the "g" logo and just follow
27 > through and get the "gentoo" name registered. This also seems to make
28 > sense seeing that the Gentoo Web site redesign is underway and it looks
29 > like we will be getting a new logo for Gentoo anyway. We can still use
30 > copyright to protect misuse of the "g" logo, and still use it as a
31 > trademark, just not a registered one.
32
33 Is there any way you can get legal advantage of a non-registered trademark
34 opposed to no trademark at all?
35
36 Greetings,
37 Paul
38
39 --
40 Paul de Vrieze
41 Gentoo Developer
42 Mail: pauldv@g.o
43 Homepage: http://www.devrieze.net

Replies

Subject Author
RE: [gentoo-trustees] trademark registration update, legal expenses Daniel Robbins <drobbins@g.o>