Re: [Foundation-l] what is partnership ? - Wikimedia-l

24 Mar 2005

--- Neil Harris &lt;usenet(a)tonal.clara.co.uk&gt; 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(a)yahoo.com
chris.mahan(a)gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/

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