--- Neil Harris usenet@tonal.clara.co.uk wrote:
I agree: there can be many partners, and there's no reason not to be partners with many people and organizations. But with the Wikipedia
brand becoming more and more valuable, and official trademark recognition in the offing, there needs to be an official process for registration of Wikipedia/Wikimedia partners. In particular, I believe that the Foundation will have a legal requirement to defend its trademarks Real Soon Now, and not doing so risks losing the rights over that trademark and becoming a [[genericized trademark]].
Any value the wikipedia brand has comes from the content of the wikipedia. The content itself does not "belong" to the Wikimedia Foundation. The brand, well, I could not care less. Be careful that you recognize value where it really is.
The Foundation urgently needs an official policy before anything damaging occurs to the Wikipedia/Wikimedia brand. An official partner list page would be a good idea: so the Foundation can say "if you're not on this page, you're not an official partner, and here's how to apply to be a Wikimedia partner, dear Bill/Melinda [delete as applicable]"
Do we? Is it so important that we "recognize" our "partners"?
I say the opposite is true. We should have a policy that says: "It does not matter how much money, content, or goodwill you send our way, we are not putting your logo or anything else in the wikipedia. Our NPOV policy would prohibit that, now that I think about it.
It would be kind of like saying "This unbiased beverage report brought to you by our Partner: Pepsi"
Chris Mahan 818.943.1850 cell chris_mahan@yahoo.com chris.mahan@gmail.com http://www.christophermahan.com/
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