Neil Harris 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]].
Other organizations identifying us as their partners is not that great
of a threat to trademark status, although it does create some potential
for brand confusion. The scenario in which our trademarks would become
genericized is if, for example, we allow anybody to call some wiki, or
even a non-wiki reference site, a "wikipedia". That's the kind of
situation that would really call for action.
--Michael Snow