:: Re: [DNG] Devuan Sticker Poll
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Autor: Rick Moen
Datum:  
To: dng
Betreff: Re: [DNG] Devuan Sticker Poll
Quoting Jaromil (jaromil@???):

> it really looks bad so lets omit it. we have a registered trademark to
> defend ourselves from felony of all sorts

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let's talk for a moment about what you can and cannot do with a
trademark.

In Europe, trademarks can be registered with the EUIPO in Alicante,
España. Or it can be registered at the national level. (The advantages
of a EUTM = EU trademark should be obvious; a uniform right applicable
in all member states, and avoiding paying fees in each such state. The
only major drawback is that opposition from within any member state
could result in denial of the entire application.) Note that you can
have valid trademark in some states with UK-descended common law systems
under the theory of 'common law trademark', e.g., the UK, Canada, New
Zealand, Australia, United States, other Commonwealth countries,
some others, albeit common law trademarks have less
enforcement power.

And what is that enforcement power? It is essentially the power to
prevent the use of the trademark-covered distinctive word, phrase, or
logo in _unfair commercial competition_ within your industry / market
segment. Such use by commercial competitors in any way likely to create
confusion in _your_ customers, i.e., making your customers think the
competing goods/services were produced or endorsed by you, is a tort and
can be suppressed through civil action, plus you can get monetary damages.

But that is -all- you can do with trademark enforcement. No use
against 'felony of all sorts'.


The three subcategories of 'trademark' as a general concept are:
Trademarks in the strict sense (marks covering goods), service marks (marks covering
services), and certification marks (covering conformance programmes,
mostly by trade associations regulating origins of goods, a product
quality standard, or some similar sort of certification standard).

You will occasionally see SM for service marks after a phrase for a
commercial service, for this reason, in the same sense you might see TM
after the name of a tangible-goods product -- but these two symbols
typically indicate an _unregistered_ (common law) mark, because anyone
who paid for a registered mark would tend to put ®, instead, as it makes
a stronger statement about enforceability (which is after all what the
owner paid for).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_mark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certification_mark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark

Open Software Initiative's 'OSI Certified' trademark program for
aspiring oppen source licences is, for example, a certification mark,
not a trademark in the strict sense (not a sale of goods) nor a
service mark (not a service).

Other major nation-states' agencies offering trademark registration:

o Trademark Registry of the Hong Kong Intellectual Property
Department (in my old home town of Victoria, Hong Kong, a few
blocks from my old flat)

o Japan Patent Office

o UK Intellectual Property Office

o USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office)

o China Trade Mark Office (CTMO)

o Canadian Intellectual Property Office

o Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (India)

o IP Australia

There are of course many others, it being a big world. ;->

-- 
Cheers,             Grossman's Law:  "In time of crisis, people do not rise to
Rick Moen           the occasion.  They fall to the level of their training."
rick@???          http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html#grossman
McQ! (4x80)