[Discuss] Legal Meetup Nov. 11th in NYC

[Matt Maier]

On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 1:37 PM, Marketply <contact at marketply.org> wrote:

> **
> Matt,
>
> There's no court enforcing here or chasing people for payments. That's the
> beauty of it.
>
>
If your plan is based on establishing a trademark then you have to
enforce the trademark, otherwise you eventually lose the power to enforce
it and the plan will become irrelevant.

"Trademark owners should diligently protect their trademarks from
infringement and other misuse (e.g., blurring, tarnishment, unfair
competition, passing off, false advertising and cybersquatting) that may
harm the owner’s goodwill and business reputation. A trademark owner is not
required to uncover all possible uses that might conflict, or immediately
commence a lawsuit against every possible infringer. At the same time, a
complete failure to enforce will lead to a weakening of an owner’s marks,
loss of distinctiveness over time and, as we saw in this case, potential
forfeiture of certain available remedies"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2013/02/28/failure-to-enforce-trademarks-if-you-snooze-do-you-lose/

"This doctrine is based on the theory that equity rewards the vigilant and
not those who slumber on their rights. Failure to assert one’s rights in a
timely manner can result in a claim's being barred by laches"
http://definitions.uslegal.com/d/defense-of-laches-in-trademark/

Also, if you're not planning on making any money from the trademark, then
you'll have a really hard time demonstrating that any damage was done. Even
if you do get an injunction all they have to do is stop using your specific
logo. A trademark injunction can't bar functional elements, only design
elements.


>  Solving the existing problems in open source begins with doing
> something. Take a step. Never back down to impossible.
>
>

Sometimes it's a feature, not a problem.


>  As for potential problems, I'll jump in feet first and will see if the
> problems you perceived materialize. And if they do, get to solving them.
> I'd rather encounter walls/obstacles and to figure a way around them,
> instead of putting up the walls from fear of potential this or that.
>
> Please take the time to carefully re-read what I've written in the emails
> mentioning this, you'll find there is no push for a mob-like mentality,
> quite the opposite. And you'll find no  top-down control of open source,
> just protection of our trademark.
>
>

How are you going to protect your trademark outside of the court system?

This is a good example of how legal research from an OSHW perspective is
useful to everyone. Apparently, based on independent research, we disagree
on the utility of an OSHW certification trademark. It's the sort of thing
that should be nailed down with some precision rather than get
reinterpreted every time someone new shows up.


>
>
  😃,
>
> Marino Hernandez
> (just a founder of Marketply <http://www.marketply.org/>)
> 203-429-4205
>
>
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