On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:04:30 +0100 Gerber van der Graaf wrote: > I have to correct something: Holger Marschall, the author of the > "OpenFOAM Documentation Project", explained me he only received some > emails where OpenCFD threatened him to write a letter of legally valid > cease and desist letter. He actually did not receive it as he put down > the website. Also, after he named it to "FOAM Documentation Project", > which was put down after OpenCFD complained. Were the threats from OpenCFD Ltd. received *before* or *after* the renaming from "OpenFOAM Documentation Project" to "FOAM Documentation Project"? If the answer is "after", I think this could indicate that OpenCFD Ltd. is willing to lay claims on the "FOAM" term... I don't know whether such claims would hold in a court, but OpenCFD Ltd. seems to *think* they would. > > As stated in the OpnCFD trademark policies, the naming OpenFOAM and > abbreviations are explicitly forbidden. > http://www.openfoam.com/legal/trademark-policy.php > > That said I wonder if FreeFOAM is considered as trademark infringement, > even by OpenCFD, as a derived naming is not explicitly mentioned to be > forbidden. Well, there's point 7 of the above-mentioned trademark policy, which states, in part: | Third Parties must not market products or services using the Trade | Marks or any wording that is confusingly similar to the Trade Marks [...] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If I recall correctly, the concept of "confusingly similar" wording comes from trademark laws, which forbid unauthorized uses of a trademark and or any mark which is confusingly similar to the trademark itself. However, whether OpenCFD Ltd. (or a court of law) would consider "FreeFOAM" confusingly similar to "OpenFOAM" is still to be assessed. > > Therefore, I still have my doubts if even renaming of the FreeFOAM > project is required. My suggestion to rename FreeFOAM is mainly driven by the goal of minimizing the risk of your project name being deemed confusingly similar to "OpenFOAM". > I will ask an attorney at our university for this. Good idea: I hope he/she can help you in the difficult task of finding a safe way through trademark laws! ;-) > In addition, the trademark 'Freefoam' has already been used by a > construction company and I found two registered US trademarks > (extrusion / machinery and a travel luggage and bags company). Whether > these companies will be annoyed by our software project remains to be > seen. As far as I know (but, I repeat, I am not a lawyer), trademark infringement occurs when an identical or confusingly similar trademark is used by an unauthorized party *for products which are similar to the one covered by the infringed trademark*. This may mean that the use of "Freefoam" in other markets than extrusion machinery or travel luggage cannot be objected to by those two companies... > At least, this might obstruct OpnCFD to go after FreeFOAM. I am not sure... > > Thanks a lot for your contributions in searching a new name for the > FreeFOAM project. We will definitely take them into account. You're welcome, indeed. Have a nice day. -- http://www.inventati.org/frx/progs/scripts/pdebuild-hooks.html Need some pdebuild hook scripts? ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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