[legal] RFC: UK Trademark Policy Draft

Mark Cross sites at thirdvisit.co.uk
Tue Mar 11 22:12:06 UTC 2008


Dear All, (second send - last night's never showed!)

Due to time marching on, I need to establish the Trademark in the UK
and to protect the domain name openid.co.uk <http://openid.co.uk> which 
I registered in
2005.

The UK domain name registration body Nominet, like God it moves in
mysterious ways and the only way to truly protect a domain name is
also to register the trademark.

Now below was originally based on a document Johannes and Snorri were I
think working on at the end of 2007, I basically forwarded it on to my
IPR lawyer and this is what came back.

I added the right to terminate, as I think it is very important. What
is an SSL certificate worth?

I am in conversation with both Bill and Snorri, so whilst it will be
good when the Foundation comes up with a plan to steer the trademark
issue on a global basis I intend to finalise this for the UK in the
next two weeks to protect the Trademark in the UK as Snorri is also doing.

Please feel to post to this group or email me directly or use
"2008 at my-domain.co.uk <mailto:2008 at my-domain.co.uk>" instead. 
Substituting my-domain.co.uk for thirdvisit.co.uk

############################

OpenID(R) Trademark Policy - Draft

General Guidelines

These guidelines outline the policy of OpenID Ltd relating to the use
of its' Trademarks. Any use of any OpenID Trademark must comply with
these guidelines.

OpenID Ltd is the proprietor of the UK trademark registration for
OpenID. This trademark is registered as a device (logo) (link
UK2463818) and a word mark (link UK 2447866) (the "Trademark(s)")

These guidelines are intended to ensure that the Trademarks are used
properly and to promote and preserve the goodwill and reputation of
the OpenID brand. To that end these guidelines set out acceptable use
of the Trademarks and when you will need to apply for a written
licence from OpenID Limited.

OpenID Ltd will review use of the Trademarks and reserves the right to
terminate the right to use the Trademarks if it feels, at its sole
discretion, that a use is:

a)The company, web site or individual using the Trademarks whilst
trading illegally as defined by the courts of England and Wales or
under investigation by a trading standards office; or
b)In breach of the spirit or letter of these guidelines; or
c)Not in good faith; or
d)Unlicensed use contrary to these guidelines.

Any use of the Trademarks is governed under the laws of England and Wales.

If you have any queries regarding these guidelines please contact
[trademarks at openid.co.uk <mailto:trademarks at openid.co.uk>,] before you 
start using the Trademarks.
Unlicensed Use

The Trademarks may be used without a license (or other written
approval) in the following situations.

As an exponent of open source software we acknowledge that most of
the open source discussion and development areas are for
non-commercial purposes and OpenID permit the use of their Trademarks,
for this purpose provided:

a)the Trademark is used in a manner which is not descriptive or
confusing as to ownership or origin; and

b)is consistent with the 'how to use' guidelines below; and

c)the use is not for profit or is a non commercial use (save for use
as the name of a non commercial organisation or entity); and

d)there is no suggestion that there is an partnership, association,
affiliation or joint venture with OpenID limited.

You may use the Trademarks to comment, blog, discuss, write articles,
review or otherwise write about the products supplied under our
Trademarks provided that you follow the 'how to use guidelines'.

If the Trademark is used in a unlicensed context all goodwill created
remains and belongs to OpendID Limited.

Licensed Use of Our Trademarks

A licence or prior written consent from OpenID Limited is necessary to
use any of the Trademarks for:

a)commercial use;
b)us in relation to software or hardware product or service not
supplied by OpenID Limited;
c)use in a domain name or URL;
d)use in Google adwords or equivalent;
e)use for advertising or merchandising purposes;
f)use of a name which includes the letters OpenID in relation to
computer hardware or software.
g)Services relating to any of the above

Unlicensed or otherwise unauthorised use of the Trademarks may
constitute an infringement of OpendID Limited's rights. OpenID
reserves all its rights in respect of infringement action.

Obtaining a Licence (insert link)

You can register for a licence to use the Trademarks at www.OpenID.co.uk 
<http://www.OpenID.co.uk>.

Registration for unlicensed use is voluntary, but will help unlicensed
users keep up to date with developments concerned with the European
OpenID Foundation's UK Chapter and for these purposes only.

How to Use our Trademarks (licensed or unlicensed)

First and foremost any use of the Trademarks must not be detrimental
to OpenId Limited or any OpenID products or services.

The Words:

The usage of the OpenID name must use the correct casing of the
letters forming the name. "OpenID" is being used correctly where "OPEN
ID", "Openid", and "Open Idea" are incorrect.

The usage of the OpenID name is not to be used in conjunction with
product names and service titles different of the OpenID patent
policy.

The Trademark should be used as an adjective immediately preceding a
generic noun such as in "OpenID protocol" or "OpenID software." The
Trademark should not be used as follows:

Not Possessives: A trademark should never be used in possessive form.
Use "OpenID protocol's benefits," not "OpenID's benefits."

Not Plurals: A trademark should never be used in plural form. Use "All
your OpenID bases," not "All your OpenIDs."

Not Verbs: A trademark should never be used as a verb. Use "Send me a
OpenID message," not "OpenID me."

Where a written license is not required to use the OpenID text Mark,
the use of the "(R)" symbol is requested, but not required. IE
OpenID(R)

The Device(logo)

[IMAGE]

Any use of the Trademark device (logo) shall be sourced from graphics
downloadable from http://www.openid.co.uk/

OpenID Ltd may make available new logos incorporating or using OpenID
which will be subject to these guidelines.

The OpenID Logo must be a "clickable" link that leads directly to
http://www.openid.co.uk/ if the Trademark device (logo) is being
publishing from UK territories

The OpenID logo must not be modified (including but not limited to
scaling, transparency, colour, font, text and embedded link
modifications )

The OpenID Trademark device (logo) must display the "(R)" symbol

Randy Reddig is acknowledge as designer of the OpenID(R) Trademark
device (logo) for the OpenID(R) Community, http://shaderlab.com/

Specific Use Guidelines

a)Protocol Names
Many protocol names may contain the word Trademark as part of the
name. Such a protocol name should be considered an opaque string, and
must be used unaltered (i.e., without inclusion of the "(R)" symbol)
in order to be maintained as a unique identifier. Any use of such
protocol identifiers in software or associated documentation, or in
parameters over the wire, is considered fair and descriptive use under
these guidelines.

b)General Technology References
If the Trademarks are used to refer to a single sign-on technology
(e.g., in software documentation), the use of the "(R)" symbol is
requested, but not required. It is not necessary to obtain or hold a
Trademark license to simply refer to the name of the technology in a
non-commercial context.


c)Publications, Seminars and Services
If you refer to the Trademarks in the titles of books, magazines,
e-zines, zines, blogs, wikis or other online dictionaries, other
publications, seminars, or user groups, you must use your own
trademark in conjunction with the goods or service provided and may
not claim rights in the portion of the title referring to the
Trademark. Examples of appropriate titles include: "Your Name OpenID
Protocol User's Guide," "Your Name OpenID User Group," "Your Trademark
Supporting OpenID Services" and "Your Brand OpenID Training." Your
name or trademark must appear in a prominent location on all materials
relating to the publication, seminar, or services.

d)Trade Shows, Conferences and Expos
Unless OpenID Ltd is sponsoring your show or conference under a
written sponsorship agreement, the name of any trade show, conference
or exposition concerning a product, service or technology using a
licensed Trademark should begin with the producer's or sponsor's brand
or name, and should then follow a "for OpenID" format. For example,
"YourName Expo for OpenID Development" or "YourName Conference for
OpenID Developers." The producer's or sponsor's own name or trademark
must be prominently displayed on all materials that advertise, promote
or are otherwise associated with the conference.


e)Products

The Trademarks may not be used in the name of any software product or
service (e.g. The OpenID Server or The OpenIDLinux Client) except
under licence or with the prior written authorisation of OpenID Ltd.

The Trademarks may, at OpenID Limited's sole discretion, be used in
the name of software products licensed under an OSI approved open
source license (e.g. GPL v3 / BSD etc) see
http://www.opensource.org/licenses <http://www.opensource.org/licenses> 
provided that:

- an application to use the Trademark has been completed (from OpenID Ltd);

- a license to use the Trademark has been granted by OpenID Ltd to the
software provider; and

- the following legend, as amended from time to time, is conspicuously
placed in the source code for all software distributed or made
available:

"OpenID is a registered trademark and its use is licensed through OpenID 
Ltd.

It is compliant with the OpenID protocol specification/standard…"


Links
For more Information about UK trademarks:

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/whatis/whatis-tm.htm 
<http://www.ipo.gov.uk/whatis/whatis-tm.htm>

(c) OpenID Ltd 2008

### ENDS ###



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