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Good catch, Matt.
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I meant,
<em>No court enforcing of payments</em>.
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Already familiar with the need to enforce but we'll never sue, only stop use. Often a cease and desist is enough, and in this case it'll be an open letter, friendly cease and desist. Court would be a very last resort.
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You don't even need to register a trademark in order
<a href="http://www.inta.org/TrademarkBasics/FactSheets/Pages/TrademarkRegistrationFactSheet.aspx">to protect it</a> in the United States, even though I do register.
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There will be an digital code that matches up to a database with images, so it's obvious if something is mislabeled with the trademark. And with a large number of people participating, we don't need to 'police'. People and businesses are likely to report offenses because they care about maintaining the integrity of the trademark.
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Other communities and OSHWA can use much of the
<a href="https://twitter.com/teachopen">knowledge we'll be sharing</a> and any lessons, to their own benefit.
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I've registered other trademarks – for userSmart and Multiversal to certify usability and interoperability, respectively – to do the same approach of crowd-powered trademarks. All free to help people find genuine goods that fit a definition.
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😃,
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Marino Hernandez
<br/>(just a founder of
<a href="http://www.marketply.org">Marketply</a>)
<br/>203-429-4205
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On October 24, 2013 at 4:25 PM Matt Maier <blueback09@gmail.com> wrote:
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On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 1:37 PM, Marketply
<span><<a target="_blank" href="mailto:contact@marketply.org">contact@marketply.org</a>></span> wrote:
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Matt,
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There's no court enforcing here or chasing people for payments. That's the beauty of it.
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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.
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"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"
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<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2013/02/28/failure-to-enforce-trademarks-if-you-snooze-do-you-lose/">http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2013/02/28/failure-to-enforce-trademarks-if-you-snooze-do-you-lose/</a>
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"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"
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<a href="http://definitions.uslegal.com/d/defense-of-laches-in-trademark/">http://definitions.uslegal.com/d/defense-of-laches-in-trademark/</a>
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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.
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Solving the existing problems in open source begins with doing something. Take a step. Never back down to impossible.
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Sometimes it's a feature, not a problem.
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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.
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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.
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How are you going to protect your trademark outside of the court system?
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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.
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😃,
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Marino Hernandez
<br/>(just a founder of
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.marketply.org/">Marketply</a>)
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<a target="_blank" href="tel:203-429-4205">203-429-4205</a>
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