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Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

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Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#171

Post by zanny »

Alphasite_ wrote: post #106
bad_user wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, but those $80k could have paid for quite a few months of development, but instead those will be money going down the drain because of a broken justice system. And they have the nerve to say that IP laws are fueling innovation.

Well, without these IP laws GNOME wouldn't have any recourse, would they?

Without IP GNOME would not care. GNOME users would know not to associate Groupon with GNOME, and without IP you could call all your stuff anything you want, and that does not mean anything to anyone else, unless you manipulate people into seeing the wrong brand in the wrong place. IE, deception.

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#172

Post by jordigh »

WoodenChair wrote: post #165
jordigh wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The thought is appreciated, but if you're talking about funds donated to GNU Octave, I don't think that'd be appropriate. The funds were donated to the FSF for Octave. However, many of us in Octave use Gnome, so I could see a point in saying that we in Octave need to ensure that Gnome works well for us. Also, we collect the funds in a rather ambiguous language, without any promise of how they will be spent, within…

> The funds were donated to the FSF for Octave. However, many of us in Octave use Gnome, so I could see a point in saying that we in Octave need to ensure that Gnome works well for us. Also, we collect the funds in a rather ambiguous language, without any promise of how they will be spent, within the boundaries of the FSF's 503(c). I know your intent is good, but reading things like this make me less likely to donate…

Well, rest assured, Gnome doesn't want our funds, and I probably can't make a case for spending them this way either. It was just a thought.

So far all we've done with them is fund developer conferences (travel expenses and the like).

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#173

Post by zanny »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #120
gooseus wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you also sue them for frivolousness or something like that?

We're exploring many options. :) I can't say anything about specific plans for legal actions, sorry.

If you guys could bankrupt Groupon, take all the money, and hire an army of devs to make Gstreamer, Pulseaudio, Avahi, CUPs, Telepathy, Wayland, etc great (I think the GNOME desktop itself is in really good shape, just the internals need love), I'd go to the victory parade.

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#174

Post by gamblor956 »

marknutter wrote: post #109
medecau wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about ÜBER?

What has Uber done?

And this:

http://avc.com/2014/11/messing-with-a-competitors-fundraisin...

Not only unethical, but quite possibly a tortious interference with contract. Uber is turning out to be even worse than the worst taxi companies.

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#175

Post by alasdair_ »

Official Groupon response: https://engineering.groupon.com/2014/misc/gnome-foundation-a...

"There is some recent confusion around Groupon’s intended use of a product name that the Gnome Foundation believes infringes on their trademarks.

We love open source at Groupon. We have open sourced a number of projects on github. Our relationship with the open source community is more important to us than a product name. We’ve been communicating with the Gnome Foundation for months to try to come to a mutually satisfactory resolution, including alternative branding options, and we’re happy to continue those conversations. And if we can’t come up with a resolution, we’ll be glad to look for another name.

We will continue to have an open line of communication with the Gnome Foundation until this matter is resolved."

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#176

Post by alasdair_ »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #73

I'm one of the folks working on the GNOME defense campaign. Happy to answer any questions people might have.

Given the statement from Groupon (https://engineering.groupon.com/2014/misc/gnome-foundation-a...) that if they can't work something out with you, they will choose another name, do you still plan on raising the $80K?

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#177

Post by [deleted] »

krschultz wrote: post #151
medecau wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about ÜBER?

I'm definitely not a fan of Uber, but even I wouldn't put them in the same league as Groupon. Uber falls in the 'not great for their employees, but generally useful for society' category, which is really the same bucket as Amazon. Groupon falls in the 'disingenuous startup that enriched early investors on pumped up numbers and dumped it all on society later', with an extra kicker of screwing a bunch of small business…

[deleted]

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#178

Post by drrotmos »

crazypyro wrote: post #133
tluyben2 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit more extreme than that; read his summary; https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/93i0gkawa4q15lh/2014-11-... Edit: cannot be the one you meant? He is part of the GNOME foundation...

Message him pretending to be a recruiter and ask him which one he works on.

Yes, because if there's something that every developer does, it's answer their recruiter spam :)

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#179

Post by alasdair_ »

anoncow wrote: post #95
JoshTriplett wrote: post #73

I'm one of the folks working on the GNOME defense campaign. Happy to answer any questions people might have.

Hi Josh. Can you give us Groupon's perspective on this issue?

https://engineering.groupon.com/2014/misc/gnome-foundation-a...

"We love open source at Groupon. We have open sourced a number of projects on github. Our relationship with the open source community is more important to us than a product name. We’ve been communicating with the Gnome Foundation for months to try to come to a mutually satisfactory resolution, including alternative branding options, and we’re happy to continue those conversations. And if we can’t come up with a resolution, we’ll be glad to look for another name."

Re: Help the Gnome Foundation Defend the Gnome Trademark Against Groupon

#180

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #31
skratlo wrote: post #27

I don't get it either. If GNOME (the desktop environment and the foundation) have a trademark on GNOME, why do they need $80k to defend it? Shouldn't the trademark office then simply reject any further application for GNOME name related to computers, software and operating systems? Is this because of the idiotic defunc. justice system the US is imposing on themselves? Where you can sue mall owner for millions because…

IIRC, the rule is that if you don't step up yourself to defend your trademark whenever someone else tries to use it, your trademark becomes void.

This is widely believed and wrong.

Your registered trademark fails when you stop paying your renewal fees. The only other way is for it to become genericised, which is about public use and not about others using it for doing business [1].

Previous commercial use however is an absolute defence in trademark law, making it also impossible to steal a trademark (another oft repeated falsehood): just to anticipate the idea that "Groupon will get an RTM and sue GNOME".

[1] - http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?articl... - Elliott v Google, trademark genericisation.

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