[Foundation-l] Bertelsmann publishes "Wikipedia Encyclopedia in One Volume"

[Mike Godwin]

David Gerard writes:

>  Yep - except possibly the Wikipedia trademark, which is a trademark
> matter and not a copyright matter.
>
> (An analogy: you can buy Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or you can download
> the same thing free from centos.org minus the Red Hat trademarked
> graphics.)

David is absolutely right about this. Historically, we (by "we" I mean  
the Foundation and the community both) have treated the Wikimedia  
trademarks -- including the Wikipedia puzzle globe and the logotype  
and the commercial use of the word "Wikipedia" -- as if they were of  
little commercial value, since the content by itself is freely  
licensed and of course always will remain free. In the marketplace,  
however, the trademarks turn out to be much more valuable.  Beginning  
late last year we have been taking steps to increase the extent to  
which the trademark can be used commercially to bring money in to  
subsidize our operations and the projects generally.

(I often use the example of Red Hat Linux when I explain this to folks.)

Apart from the commercial value of the trademarks, they also, when  
properly used, can be a strong signal that encyclopedic content with  
the Wikipedia brand is free content that must remain free.


--Mike