[gentoo-trustees] trademark registration update, legal expenses

["Daniel Robbins" <drobbins@gentoo.org>]

Hi guys,

Here's an update on the trademark registration:

1) Progress on getting the name "Gentoo" registered as an official trademark
is going well. The UST&PO wanted more clarity in the description of
"Gentoo", and we are planning to amend the description so be something like
this:

"Computer software, namely operating system software that automatically
configures and optimizes performance on the underlying hardware and is
adapted for a large number of usage scenarios and applications, namely,
secure servers, development workstations, professional desktops, gaming
systems and embedded solutions."

I'm going to try to change "is adapted" to something like "capable of
adapting" and "namely" to "including". The examiner at the UST&PO is trying
to make the description less vague, but the whole point is that Gentoo isn't
focused on a particular set of applications. So the challenge is to get the
description as open-ended as possible while at the same time meeting the
UST&PO's requirements of having a description that is not vague.

2) Progress on getting the "g" logo registered isn't going as well. The
UST&PO wants a black and white, non-dithered version of the logo, which of
course doesn't exist, and if it did exist would not look like our friendly
"g" logo anyway (so I'm not sure how valuable the registered trademark would
be even if we got it.) The UST&PO will only register trademarks that can be
represented in black and white without shading, and the "g" logo is clearly
not in this category. My lawyers are happy to keep trying to get it
registered (and charging me/us several thousand dollars for their time) but
this doesn't seem like a smart course of action.

What I plan to do: stop trying to register the "g" logo and just follow
through and get the "gentoo" name registered. This also seems to make sense
seeing that the Gentoo Web site redesign is underway and it looks like we
will be getting a new logo for Gentoo anyway. We can still use copyright to
protect misuse of the "g" logo, and still use it as a trademark, just not a
registered one.

Also, since these bills do end up being quite significant when totalled up,
I am going to try to keep the Foundation informed of all the Foundation and
trademark-related legal expenses. Right now, the foundation has an
outstanding bill from Wayne Chew of $646.73 for assistance related to
setting up the Foundation. I will use Store donations as well as some money
from the Store to pay this off, and give you a break-down of donations to
date when I do this.

The trademark registration (handled by peacocklaw.com) is still getting
billed to Gentoo Technologies, Inc. I'll keep you informed of amounts and
use the donation money set aside to also help with the cost. The Store will
chip in with financial assistance when it can.

Regards,

Daniel


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