Draft Version 0.0.1

Introduction

This document, the "Policy," outlines our policy for the use of our trademarks. While our software is available under a free and open source software license, a copyright license does not include an implied right or license to use a trademark. Trademarks provide assurance about the quality of the products or services with which the trademark is associated, but because an open source license allows your unrestricted modification of the copyrighted software we cannot be sure that your modifications to the software are ones that will not be misleading if distributed under the same name. Instead, this Policy describes the circumstances under which you may use our trademarks.

In this Policy we are not trying to limit the lawful use of our trademarks, but rather describe for your what we consider the parameters of lawful use to be. Trademark law can be ambiguous, so we hope to provide enough clarity for you to understand whether we will consider your use a licensed or a non-infringing use.

The sections that follow describe what trademarks are covered by these Guidelines, as well as uses of the trademarks that are allowed without additional permission from us. If you want to use our trademarks in ways that are not described in this Policy, please see "Where to get further information" below for contact information. Any use that does not comply with this Policy or for which we have not separately provided written permission is not a use that we have approved, so you must decide for yourself whether the use is nevertheless lawful.

Objective of the trademark policy

We want to encourage and facilitate the use of our trademarks by the community, but do so in a way that still ensure that the trademarks are meaningful as a source and quality indicator for our software and the associated goods and services; that the trademarks are not used in a way that creates confusion about the true origin of software or the related goods and services; and that the trademarks continue to embody the high reputation of the software and the community associated with it. This Policy therefore tries to strike the proper balance between: 1) our need to ensure that our trademarks remain reliable indicators of the qualities that they are meant to preserve and 2) our community members' desire to be full participants in the project, accurately describe their own relationship to the project and to the software, and discuss the project.

Trademarks subject to the guidelines

Our Trademarks

This Policy covers:

1. Our word trademarks and service marks (the "Word Marks"):
   [List what you consider to be your word marks, including any umbrella name, like "Apache," as well as individual project names]
   
2. Our logos ("Logos"):
   [Insert your logos, including standalone logos, like the Hadoop elephant, a logotype of a word, like the color and font weight treatment used for "LibreOffice", or a combination of a logo and word like the Debian swirl with the word "Debian"]
   
3. And the unique visual styling of our website and packaging (the "Trade Dress").

This Policy encompasses all trademarks and service marks, whether Word Marks, Logos or Trade Dress, which are collectively referred to as the “Marks.” Some Marks may not be registered, but registration does not equal ownership of trademarks. This Policy covers our Marks whether they are registered or not.

What we consider too close

Trademark law does not allow your use of names or trademarks that are too similar to ours. You therefore may not use an obvious variation of any of our Marks or any phonetic equivalent, foreign language equivalent, takeoff, or abbreviation for a similar or compatible product or service. We would consider the following too similar to one of our Marks:

[Example for UBUNTU: "Any mark ending with the letters UBUNTU or BUNTU"]
[Example for ARCHLINUX: "Any mark beginning with the letters ARCH"]

The trademarks we are not licensing in this Policy

The following trademarks are ones that are reserved exclusively to our use and are not covered by the Policy:

[List marks that you don't want others using without permission]

Contact us as described in "Where to get further information" below if you have questions or want to ask permission to use any of these trademarks.

Universal considerations for all uses

Whenever you use one of the Marks, you must always do so in a way that does not mislead anyone, either directly or by omission, about exactly what they are getting and from whom. The law reflects this requirement in two major ways, described in more detail below: it prohibits creating a "likelihood of confusion" but allows for "nominative use." So, for example, you cannot say you are distributing the [~Mark] software when you're distributing a modified version of it, because people would not be getting the same features and functionality they would get if they downloaded the software directly from us. You also cannot use our logo on your website in a way that suggests that your website is an official website or that we endorse your website. You can, though, say you like the [~Mark] software, that you participate in the [~Mark] community, that you are providing an unmodified version of the [~Mark] software, or that you wrote a book describing how to use the [~Mark] software.

This fundamental requirement, that it is always clear to people what they are getting and from whom, is reflected throughout this Policy. It should also serve as your guide if you are not sure about how you are using the Marks.

You may not use or register, in whole or in part, the Marks as part of your own trademark, service mark, company name, trade name, product name or service name.

Trademark law does not allow your use of names or trademarks that are too similar to ours. You therefore may not use an obvious variation of any of our Marks or any phonetic equivalent, foreign language equivalent, takeoff, or abbreviation for a similar or compatible product or service. We would consider the following too similar to one of our Marks:

[Example for UBUNTU: "Any mark ending with the letters UBUNTU or BUNTU"]
[Example for ARCHLINUX: "Any mark beginning with the letters ARCH"]

You agree that you will not acquire any rights in the Marks and that any goodwill generated by your use of the Marks inures solely to our benefit.

Use for software

See Universal considerations for all uses, above, which also apply.

Use for non-software goods and services

See Universal considerations for all uses, above, which also apply.

General Information

Where to get further information

If you have any questions about this Policy or would like to speak with us about the use of our Marks in ways not described in the Policy, please [insert contact information.]

General considerations about trademarks and their use

What trademark law is about

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. "Trade dress" or "get up" refers to the look and feel of the packaging, which in this context can include the layout, colors, images, and design choices in a web page. Throughout this Policy, the terms "trademark" and "mark" refer to both trademarks, service marks and trade dress.

What is "likelihood of confusion"?

There is trademark infringement if your use of a trademark has created a "likelihood of confusion." This means using a trademark in a way that will likely confuse or deceive the relevant consuming public about the source of a product or service using the mark in question. For example, if the "Foo" software extension removes all double spaces after periods, but someone else later creates "Foo" software that adds a third space after periods, consumers would be confused between the two and the newcomer will likely be a trademark infringer. As another example, if a company makes "Foobar' software and a third party offers training called "Foobar Certification," a person is likely to believe, wrongly, that the certification is being offered by the makers of Foobar software. The third party has likely misled consumers about the source of its training and is a trademark infringer.

What is "nominative" use?

So-called "nominative use" (or "nominative fair use"), which is the name of the doctrine under U.S. trademark law, allows the use of another's trademark where it is necessary for understanding. Other countries' trademark laws also have similar provisions For example, a car repair shop that specializes in a particular brand of automobile, VW for example, must be allowed to say that they repair VW cars. Here is what you should consider when deciding whether your use of a trademark is a nominative fair use:

• Whether you can identify the product or service in question without using the trademark;
• Whether you are avoiding a likelihood of confusion in the way that you have used the trademark; and
• Whether you have used only as much as is necessary to identify the product or service.

With our "Foobar Certification" example above, the person offering the certification would be allowed to say, under the nominative fair use doctrine, that she is offering "Maude's Certification for Foobar software."

Proper trademark use

Use of trademarks in text

These rules hold true for all trademarks, not just ours, so you should follow them for our Marks as well as anyone else's.

Always distinguish trademarks from surrounding text with at least initial capital letters or in all capital letters.
Unacceptable: [~mark]
Acceptable: [~Mark, ~MARK]

Always use proper trademark form and spelling.
Unacceptable: [~Mark misspelled]
Acceptable: [~Mark]

Don't pluralize a trademark.
Unacceptable: I have seventeen [~Marks] running in my lab.
Acceptable: I have seventeen [~Mark] systems running in my lab.

Don't use "a" or "the" to refer to an instance of the trademark.
Unacceptable: I put a [~Mark] on my mom's computer.
Acceptable: I put a [~Mark] system on my mom's computer.

Always use a trademark as an adjective modifying a noun.
Unacceptable: This is a [~Mark]. Anyone can install it.
Acceptable: This is a [~Mark] application. Anyone can install it.

Don't use a trademark as a verb. Trademarks are products or services, never actions.
Unacceptable: I [~Markified] my computer today!
Acceptable: I installed [~Mark] software on my computer today!

Don't use a trademark as a possessive. Instead, the following noun should be used in possessive form or the sentence reworded so there is no possessive.
Unacceptable: [~Mark's] desktop interface is very clean.
Acceptable: The [~Mark] desktop's interface is very clean.

Don't translate a trademark into another language.
Acceptable: Quiero instalar [~Mark] en mi sistema.
Unacceptable: Quiero instalar [~Mark translated into Spanish] en mi sistema.

Use of Logos

You may not change any Logo except to scale it. This means you may not add decorative elements, change the colors, change the proportions, or combine them with other logos.