Imagine there is a GPL'd open source project, going strong for more than 10 years, with more than 50 contributors. Now a company comes along and registers the name of the project as a trademark with the clear intention of suing people using this name to sell equipment with the software preloaded.
They are not contributing to the project.
Is there anything the project can do about that?
The opposition deadline (german: "Widerspruchsfrist") is not over yet.
Oh - and of course they are blatant GPL violators, linking the project's GPL'd software against closed source libraries which in turn use closed source kernel drivers, ship a U-Boot version of which nobody has ever seen the sources and so on, but that's a different story.
"but that’s a different story"
ReplyDeleteIs it? IANAL, but aren't there groups that are willing to fight GPL violations like this? Can't you counter-sue about violating your license?
It seems like the project needs a lawyer (since presumably the company didn't file the trademark registration without thinking about whether it would be exposed to a claim of infringement), but giving parties like the project the opportunity to object to the registration of a trademark, including on the ground that it is already in use by someone else, is exactly what the opposition period is for.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the project could use a lawyer. Giving parties like the project the opportunity to object to the registration of a trademark, including on the basis that it is already in use, is exactly what the opposition period is for.
ReplyDeleteOf course the company may have considered the possibility of opposition by the project, so there may be some issues to be overcome in order to successfully oppose the registration.
Here's an article on best practices for FOSS trademarks.
http://www.ifosslr.org/ifosslr/article/view/11/37
Yes, there is absolutely something you can do. Contact the FSF Europe (if you're in Europe) or other FOSS organizations which offer legal support. If you want some pointers send me a mail on jos at the openSUSE servers.
ReplyDelete[...] who would have guessed the guys that are good at trademark trolling (they withdrew their trademark application after other users of the name “Neutrino” [...]
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