Brand Usage Rules

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STATUS: Partly approved and in force.

Discussion: https://sourceforge.net/projects/adempiere/forums/forum/611167/topic/3785089

Legal Entity holding Trade Mark

1). All rights of the name "ADempiere" including domains and the logo are to be held by ADempiere e.V. (ADeV)

This was decided via citizens vote on 07th of March 2011.

See the results here: [1]


Brand Usage Rules (Draft)

2) No natural or legal person is allowed to use the rights described under 1) in their organization name, product name, brand, logo or as only name in second level domain.

Examples of non-allowed usage:

  • organization name: "BigCompany ADempiere Inc."
  • product name: "BigCompany ADempiere Version 1.0"
  • brand: "ADempiere Enterprise"
  • domain "adempiere.com", "adempiere.net", "adempiere.io", "adempiere.de", etc.

An exception to this is defined in 3).


3) You may use the rights from 1)

  • to write that you sell services around ADempiere
  • to write that your product is based on ADempiere
  • to use logo on webpage
  • to offer the trainings
  • to offer services

Examples:

  • "BigCompany - leading ADempiere service company"
  • "BigERP - ADempiere based"
  • "BigERP - powered by ADempiere"


4. In case of violation of the rules the legal entity is entitled to collect evidence and ask the other party for omission by referring to the according rules.

4.1 In case of recurring violation the support by the community for the other party is revoked and leads to exclusion.

4.2 In case of severe violation the legal entity is entitled to take further actions like blacklisting the domain or company name

5. Changes and extensions to this rules is enacted by the ADempiere citizens by majority.

6. The inoperativeness of one or several provisions of said rules does not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

Examples from other open source projects

  • Drupal trademark and logo policy [2] - with detailed examples
  • Ubuntu trademark policy [3]
  • OpenBravo trademark policy [4]
  • Mozilla trademark policy [5]
  • Joomla! trademark policy [6]
  • Nagios (based on Ubuntu) [7]

ADempiere trademark policy in detail, taking Drupal as an example

Drupal is an open source (GPL) software package that allows anyone to publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. The software is developed by a community but the trademark is owned and controlled by one person (Dries Buytaert).

To use the Drupal trademark a license is needed. Drupal distinguishes between automatic licenses and a license grant procedure. The trademark policy gives a lot of use cases and examples for allowed use (automatic license), illeagal use and use cases where the license grant procedure must be followed.

I think that the ADempiere community should discuss and classify the different use cases in a similar way:

  • always allowed (same as automatic license)
  • never allowed
  • ask the community (or maybe just the CC Team)

Please enhance the following list (taken from the Drupal trademark policy [8]) by adding use cases and/or commenting the existing ones. Kthiemann 12:01, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Use case categories and examples

  • Exclusively use the ADempiere trademark to either extend or improve the ADempiere software, or to encourage the use of ADempiere (foster/support ADempiere)
    • Examples which do qualify as "fostering the ADempiere software":
      • a course entitled "How to use ADempiere in your business" organized by a local non-profit organization
      • an open access monthly journal called "ADempiere Coding magazine"
      • administering a database with ADempiere bugs and corresponding workarounds.
      • creating an ADempiere localization for a specific country
    • Examples which do not qualify as "fostering the ADempiere software":
      • creating an ADempiere fork "Improved ADempiere"
    • Examples of not "exclusively" to foster the ADempiere software:
      • a company selling t-shirts with the ADempiere trademark, while donating 25% of the profits to the ADempiere e.V.
  • The ADempiere trademark is used in a domain name, title of website, title of a seminar/course or title that is exclusively intended to foster the ADempiere software.
    • Examples matching this definition:
      • a domain name that is exclusively intended to foster ADempiere use, and is entitled "adempiereusersgroupcalifornia.org" or "adempiereunofficialfaq.com"
      • an ADempiere course entitled "ADempiere 3.6" that is taught at a university
      • a free ADempiere seminar entitled "Install ADempiere", organized by a local non-profit organization
    • Examples not matching the definition:
      • a commercial website hosted under domain name "commonusesofadempiere.com"
      • a commercial course entitled "ADempiere Newbies Course 2009"
  • The ADempiere trademark is used in a domain name, title of website, title of a seminar/course or title that also mentiones the (other) company trademark (trade name, name of the company, name of the organization or association - for example 'ACME' as a company name).
    • a course entitled "Acme's ADempiere Gold Course" or "Acme's ADempiere Certification Course" or "Acme's Learn to Code in ADempiere";
    • a domain name that is used for commercial purposes and is entitled "adempiereacme.com" or "commonusesofadempiere.acme.com";
  • The ADempiere trademark is used in a domain name, title of a website, title of a seminar, title of a course or title of a software package that is not exclusively intended to foster the ADempiere software, and this domain name or title does not also mention your trademark (or your trade name, name of your company, name of your organization, or name of your association).
  • The ADempiere trademark is used in the title of a book, newsletter, video, magazine or similar instructional instrument regarding ADempiere that does not suggest an "official link".
  • The use of the ADempiere trademark suggests an "official link" between your product or service and the ADempiere e.V. or the official ADempiere version by the ADempiere community.
  • The ADempiere trademark is used for the title of a camp or meet-up.
  • Display the official ADempiere logo (whether for commercial or non-commercial use) in a standalone and unaltered form.
  • The intended use qualifies as "nominative fair use" of the ADempiere trademark, i.e., merely identifying that you are talking about ADempiere in a text, without suggesting sponsorship or endorsement by the ADempiere e.V.
  • The ADempiere trademark is used as part of another registered trademark.
  • The ADempiere trademark is used as part of a "adempiere.tld" domain name (adempiere.info, adempiere.co.uk ..).
  • The ADempiere trademark is used as part of a domain name that covers either an entire category of products or services that are relevant to the ADempiere community, that covers an entire target group of ADempiere users or that is otherwise too generic.
  • The ADempiere trademark is used as part of the name of a company, organization, trade name or association.
  • The official ADempiere logo is used in altered form or as part of another logo.
  • The ADempiere trademark cannot be used for illegal, defamatory or humiliating purposes, or any other purpose that may negatively impact the ADempiere software.
  • The name of your company or organization should be used in combination with the ADempiere trademark so that there can be no confusion about the true source (company, organization, association or author) of your product or service. The combination of the name of your product or service with the ADempiere trademark must be unique and identifiable.