[opensuse-project] openSUSE foundation and openSUSE trademarks (was: Public statement...)

On 2011-01-19 08:08:06 (-0500), Greg Freemyer wrote:

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 7:34 AM, Juergen Weigert wrote: [...]

...

Unless Novell grants permission to use the trademark for the Foundation name, or Novell would be willing to transfer the trademark to the Foundation, your reading is correct. I'd like to hear what the chances are, that one of the two happens, so that the foundation can be appropriatly named.

Not calling it 'The openSUSE Foundation' just because of trademark reasons makes Novell appear to be spoiling the game. This is something Novell cannot possibly want.

I don't expect an answer to this question while the merger is ongoing.

IIRC One of the previously stated goals for the foundation is to own and enforce the copyrights associated with openSUSE. I expect that to be clarified as the openSUSE foundation activity of the board is summarized and posted to the -foundation list in the next days.

No, it was not. The perspective/plan/idea here is to get something done, and hence not go for the full monty right from the start. Personally, and I'm not the only one, I believe that indeed, the trademarks/copyrights should be owned by the foundation at some point in the future. But that has not been discussed much with Novell and not something we plan to pursue as an objective as of now. The reason is that the more pressing matter is having *a* foundation in the first place, and the primary, pressing, practical goals which have lead to creating a foundation are: * have an entity that can receive donations/sponsoring for the project (this is currently not possible, or at least not in a form that is transparent and directly funds the project) * use those funds to support initiatives of the openSUSE project (e.g. renting infrastructure/hosting servers when needed, fund travel expenses and promo material for ambassadors, etc...) Now, of course, that is a first but big step. We will have to see how things will evolve and take the next steps further down the road. On the trademarks, I personally don't think that it would be a good idea to have them owned by the foundation just yet. Let's see how it works out, how the foundation board and membership will function, how the funds will be used, and how much financial support we will get. Because owning trademarks also means that you *must* enforce violations of those trademarks, including taking legal actions, and we don't know yet (or rather when) the foundation will be in a position to do so. Hence, as of now, the trademarks and copyrights are better with Novell anyway. I could also imagine and understand that Novell has a similar feeling about it, waiting to see what the foundation will become, whether it's viable and in a position to defend the trademarks in the first place. Then we'll certainly engage in a discussion on the matter, and we'll see what everyone's position is at that time. But, at least IMHO, not right now. Let's not make the process of setting up the foundation dependent on whether we get the ownership of the trademarks right now or not.

(I have not read the board notes, so I don't know any details. If you're real curious, go read those. They're public I believe. And recall the board Chairman is specifically a Novell representative, so

We're in the process of publicizing stuff about it, we've been a bit lazy on that.

I assume in that role he is speaking for Novell(?))

The board chairman speaks for the board. (And the board of the foundation will not have an appointed chairman. And the current plan is that openSUSE board == Foundation board, as a single entity, and not have two boards for the project.) cheers -- -o) Pascal Bleser /\\ http://opensuse.org -- I took the green pill _\_v FOSDEM XI: 5 + 6 Feb 2011, http://fosdem.org