NitnayLion
Adept
Source: ZDnet
By Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia
16 June 2005
Although it maintains a policy -- which was recently criticised by many developers of the Debian Linux distribution -- on how its trademarks are used, it does not appear to have registered the Firefox name in Germany and Australia. In the United States and United Kingdom, the foundation has applied for the trademarks but approval is still pending.
Apart from the free browser, the organisation has yet to apply for a trademark on its Thunderbird e-mail client in any of these countries.
In addition, the Firefox brand exists as a registered trademark in the UK and Germany -- owned by the Charlton Company and Firefox Communications, respectively. In the US, the latter has abandoned its claim to the trademark.
Although the foundation is not forced to register its trademarks, doing so would help prove ownership of the brands during any legal proceedings. In the absence of a registration, any dispute would come down to how well the trademark was generally known to be associated with any particular party, ZDNet Australia understands.
The original statement detailing the Mozilla Foundation's creation in 2003 says Netscape-owner America Online would contribute "trademarks and related intellectual property" to the birth. However, Netscape is still registered in the US and UK as owning the 'Mozilla' and 'Mozilla.org' trademarks. However, this isn't the case in Australia or Germany.
The foundation is facing criticism from developers of the Debian Linux distribution (which distributes a version of Firefox), many of whom see the official Mozilla trademark policy as excessively prohibitive.
Their concerns revolve around whether Mozilla's trademark policy allows them to modify the software for updates and security patches, and still distribute it using its original name.
Many developers feel the trademark restrictions clash with Debian's Social Contract, which mandates Debian-distributed open source software to meet certain conditions.
Full Story HERE
By Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia
16 June 2005
Although it maintains a policy -- which was recently criticised by many developers of the Debian Linux distribution -- on how its trademarks are used, it does not appear to have registered the Firefox name in Germany and Australia. In the United States and United Kingdom, the foundation has applied for the trademarks but approval is still pending.
Apart from the free browser, the organisation has yet to apply for a trademark on its Thunderbird e-mail client in any of these countries.
In addition, the Firefox brand exists as a registered trademark in the UK and Germany -- owned by the Charlton Company and Firefox Communications, respectively. In the US, the latter has abandoned its claim to the trademark.
Although the foundation is not forced to register its trademarks, doing so would help prove ownership of the brands during any legal proceedings. In the absence of a registration, any dispute would come down to how well the trademark was generally known to be associated with any particular party, ZDNet Australia understands.
The original statement detailing the Mozilla Foundation's creation in 2003 says Netscape-owner America Online would contribute "trademarks and related intellectual property" to the birth. However, Netscape is still registered in the US and UK as owning the 'Mozilla' and 'Mozilla.org' trademarks. However, this isn't the case in Australia or Germany.
The foundation is facing criticism from developers of the Debian Linux distribution (which distributes a version of Firefox), many of whom see the official Mozilla trademark policy as excessively prohibitive.
Their concerns revolve around whether Mozilla's trademark policy allows them to modify the software for updates and security patches, and still distribute it using its original name.
Many developers feel the trademark restrictions clash with Debian's Social Contract, which mandates Debian-distributed open source software to meet certain conditions.
Full Story HERE