Trademark policy

Hi Board,

Hi Simon,

you just were telling us in the public part of the board meeting that
the TDF can remove the trade mark of the TDC with a prenotification of
30 days.

Is the trade mark policy basically the one published in the wiki? [0] Or
is it another one (and is this the published somewhere else)?

Best regards,

Dennis

[0] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDF/Policies/Trademark_Policy

Hi Dennis,

you just were telling us in the public part of the board meeting that
the TDF can remove the trade mark of the TDC with a prenotification of
30 days.

  That is the plan.

Is the trade mark policy basically the one published in the wiki? [0] Or
is it another one (and is this the published somewhere else)?

  We currently have several TM licenses for all sorts of entities across
the ecosystem - anyone in our community using the LibreOffice brand on a
product, service etc. should be assumed to have one. You can't eg. print
a T-shirt or a mug with our branding on it without one.

  Those are all very similar in substance - and are IIRC all unilaterally
revocable with ~zero notice by TDF. If the BoD doesn't like what you do
- then they can decide to just pull the plug by a simple majority.

  I would expect a similar, but bespoke agreement for TDC to give time to
wind up TDC & give staff notice.

  That gives huge influence over anyone who signs one of those and does
business with the LibreOffice brand.

  I know - I used to ship product under one, and it turned every minor
suggestion of a BoD member into a nightmare feature-request I had to
deliver on or risk termination of my business =) so - have been on both
sides here; and it's not at all pleasant being at the whim of 10 people
with very different visions.

[0] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDF/Policies/Trademark_Policy

  This is the general policy, primarily focused at avoiding some of the
mistakes & problems Mozilla experienced with Firefox, built on the
OpenOffice experience and soon. Hence the bit at the end:

  "If you have questions about using TDF marks, or if you think you
should be able to use TDF marks for any purpose not allowed by this
policy and would like permission for that use, or for more information
concerning our label program, please contact TDF by emailing
legal@documentfoundation.org (non-public)."

  ATB,

    Michael.

No, I was referring to the trademark licenses TDF extends to uses that are not allowed under that policy (such as branding by companies or usage on goods). In those cases, TDF offers a commercial-style trademark license. To discuss it further I suggest we move to the Members list as it’s another legal matter.

S.

On Fri, Feb 28, 2020 at 1:04 PM Dennis Roczek <dennisroczek@libreoffice.org> wrote:

Hi Board,

Hi Simon,

you just were telling us in the public part of the board meeting that
the TDF can remove the trade mark of the TDC with a prenotification of
30 days.

Is the trade mark policy basically the one published in the wiki? [0] Or
is it another one (and is this the published somewhere else)?

Best regards,

Dennis

[0] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDF/Policies/Trademark_Policy