Re: [gentoo-project] Representation of Gentoo on third-party platforms

[Rich Freeman]

On Sun, Nov 6, 2016 at 5:25 PM, Nick Vinson <nvinson234@×××××.com> wrote:
> On 11/06/2016 02:05 PM, Rich Freeman wrote:
>> However, naming your organization after somebody else's and then
>> engaging in highly objectionable conduct is probably not the sort of
>> thing most lawyers would advice.  If you created a neo-nazi group on
>> Reddit called /r/ford with the Ford Motor Corp logo on your page, and
>> no disclaimers, you're probably not going to have a good time
>> convincing Reddit not to take you down on request, let alone
>> prevailing in court.  If your last name was Ford and there was no logo
>> and no reference to the car company, then you'd probably have a good
>> shot.
>
> Based on my understanding of trademark law, the above is only a legal
> problem with respect to trademarks if the group starts producing
> automobiles.

You don't need to actually produce automobiles.  You just need to
create confusion that you're associated with the company that produces
automobiles as I understand it.

Using a unique graphical logo certainly creates that kind of
confusion.  Just the name alone probably wouldn't, since "Ford" is a
name that predates the auto company.  But, using the name and talking
about cars probably would get you into more trouble.

> There's a reason why Apple computers and Apple Records
> both exist, both have an Apple as the logo, are not the same company,
> but do not violate each other's trademarks.

Well, they didn't back before Apple was in the music business.  Apple
Records hasn't been active as far as I'm aware in recent days so this
is probably why the issue was never pressed when the iTunes music
store came along.  Either that or some kind of deal was worked out
quietly.

> Trademarks (again per my
> understanding) are the most difficult things to use and provide far less
> protection than what you typically see people get with other instruments
> such as copyrights and patents.

Within their narrow domain they're actually fairly potent.  You just
have to keep in mind the end goal, which is preventing confusion in
the marketplace.  If it is obvious that some group has nothing to do
with us, then trademark law probably doesn't apply.  If somebody would
look at a group and think they're affiliated with us when they aren't,
there is a good chance it does apply.

Trademarks also vary in strength.  "Microsoft Windows" is a strong
mark.  "Windows" is a weak mark, which MS has at times failed to
enforce.  If you want an example of a strong trademark pick just about
any brand name of a prescription drug.  I swear those things come out
of random character generators, and that is about as strong a mark as
you can make as they are unused in commerce before the application,
and not really used outside of reference to the brand.


-- 
Rich