[Juriwiki-l] Re: [Foundation-l] Trademark violation of our 'MediaWiki' mark

[Alexandre Dulaunoy]

On Sat, 29 Oct 2005, Jean-Baptiste Soufron wrote:

> Arne Klempert wrote:
> > On 10/28/05, Jean-Baptiste Soufron <jbsoufron at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> After looking at it, they are clearly trying to induce confusion between
> >> their wiki offer, the gnu gpl software mediawiki, wikipedia, wiktionnary
> >> and wikiquote.
> >
> > The text is a little bit confusing ("the new product" might sound like
> > it's their product), but I see no reason for your "trying to induce"
> > thing. And I really don't see any trademark violation here. Of course
> > we have to defend our trademarks but we also should avoid trademark
> > paranoia.
>
> Well, a good first step would be mentioning that mediawiki is a
> registered trademark from another company, and clearly explaining that

I  can't find  any  registered trademark  regarding  Mediawiki on  the
uspto.gov website.  I know that  trademark registration is  not always
mandatory but just wondering.

> is a third party software that they did not develop.

If they fully  comply with the GNU General  Public License[1], I can't
see the issue. It won't be  the first time that a front-cover web page
is  trying to  induce confusion  regarding  a free  software (did  you
remember the Dansguardian issue ? (look at their download page)).

[1] Can someone make a verification  that they comply with the GNU GPL
?

> When you look here :
> http://www.cheaphostingdirectory.com/news-webhosting-provider-aplus-net-launches-media-wiki-1538.html
>
>
> As you say he actual text is confusing, which is exactly the criteria
> for trademark violations. I don't say we should hurry to the courts, but
> we should ask them to be more precise.

Wouldn't  be better  to  focus only  on  the GNU  GPL compliance  than
"playing" with  trademark stuff (as  this is a different  battle field
;-) ?

just my 0.02 EUR,

adulau

-- 
** Alexandre Dulaunoy (adulau) **** http://www.foo.be/ **** 0x44E6CBCD
**/ "To  disable the  Internet to  save EMI  and Disney  is  the moral
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