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Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

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Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#12
post #6

Hashicorp has a registered trademark on software named Consul[1] and started working on it in late 2013[2]. This is not a good name for software if it is already trademarked and was started before this project (by ~2 years). [1] http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:z7n... [2] https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/commit/0a7996bc4f504894d...

Well, there's Dove, the chocolate, and Dove, the soap. I don't think intelligent people will get confused at eat the soap or try to wash their hands with the chocolate. Let's not blow things out of proportions and comment on any name collision as something bad! Software projects come and go and Consul.io is not something that, in my view, will last forever.

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#13
post #10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like they are pretty aware of it too. There are a few issues in their tracker meant for hashicorp's consul and they directed them over to the right github project.

Mitchell and Armon are good people and I'd expect them to act in good faith as this isn't competition, but it is still bad form for someone to do this. In some cases it can result in the original trademark holder losing their trademark. The entire system sucks.

Oh, I'm not at all saying they are acting in bad faith! I was just elaborating the information you brought up, that's all.

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#14
post #12
post #6

Hashicorp has a registered trademark on software named Consul[1] and started working on it in late 2013[2]. This is not a good name for software if it is already trademarked and was started before this project (by ~2 years). [1] http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:z7n... [2] https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/commit/0a7996bc4f504894d...

Well, there's Dove, the chocolate, and Dove, the soap. I don't think intelligent people will get confused at eat the soap or try to wash their hands with the chocolate. Let's not blow things out of proportions and comment on any name collision as something bad! Software projects come and go and Consul.io is not something that, in my view, will last forever.

Yes those are totally different. You can have a trademark of the same name for different things in different industries. This is allowable under USPTO guidance. However, these are both software, so your scenario isn't really comparable.

Let's compare:

https://github.com/consul/consul - 83 watchers, 758 stars, 486 forks

https://github.com/hashicorp/consul - 843 watchers, 14,686 stars, 2,548 forks

If any of those two is not going to last forever, it is this the one with a smaller community.

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#15
post #14
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's Dove, the chocolate, and Dove, the soap. I don't think intelligent people will get confused at eat the soap or try to wash their hands with the chocolate. Let's not blow things out of proportions and comment on any name collision as something bad! Software projects come and go and Consul.io is not something that, in my view, will last forever.

Yes those are totally different. You can have a trademark of the same name for different things in different industries. This is allowable under USPTO guidance. However, these are both software, so your scenario isn't really comparable. Let's compare: https://github.com/consul/consul - 83 watchers, 758 stars, 486 forks https://github.com/hashicorp/consul - 843 watchers, 14,686 stars, 2,548 forks If any of those two i…

Yeah, but this is the situation now. If stars had an expiry, things could look quite different today.

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#16

As a newcomer to online governments, I wonder how things like trust are handled? For instance, how does the government trust that I am a citizen and how do I prove that trust? How do I know I can trust the installation of this software and that its free from tampering or hacking? Universal ID is something that is needed.

I'm not sure about the identification of users and universal ID issue, but I can speak to the installation pieces.

The license the project uses (AGPLv3) requires any server running a modified version of the software must include the source code. While it may not be possible to verify the source code running on someone else's server, you have the freedom to run the program on a server that you control. This ensures the version you are interacting with is not tampered with. Because the source code (and any modified code you can access on a network) are available, you or others can audit the code for security vulnerabilities.

This isn't a perfect solution because not everyone knows how to set up a server, but it definitely reduces the potential for abuse.

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#17

As a newcomer to online governments, I wonder how things like trust are handled? For instance, how does the government trust that I am a citizen and how do I prove that trust? How do I know I can trust the installation of this software and that its free from tampering or hacking? Universal ID is something that is needed.

According to

https://manual.consulproject.org/en/article/verify-your-acco...

the service can verify your identity relying on the city census. I wonder if you can identify yourself with a reader and your ID, which is mandatory and universal in Spain

https://firmaelectronica.gob.es/Home/en/Ciudadanos/DNI-Elect...

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#18
post #6

Hashicorp has a registered trademark on software named Consul[1] and started working on it in late 2013[2]. This is not a good name for software if it is already trademarked and was started before this project (by ~2 years). [1] http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:z7n... [2] https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/commit/0a7996bc4f504894d...

I agree that it's unfortunate they didn't pick a more unique name, but why would the government of Madrid (the developers of Consul) care about a US trademark? Hashicorp Consul has an EU trademark[1] but they only applied in late 2018.

I imagine Hashicorp Consule wasn't as well known in 2015 when the Consul project was started. Is it really expected for a Spanish developer to double check his name is A-OK with America?

[1] https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/01793038...

Re: Consul – Open Government and E-Participation Web Software

#19

How does this software prevent ballot stuffing / SPAM / malicious actors?

It depends on the government entity using the software. Madrid validates identities using your census data. Estonia would use their national ID cards and card reader.
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