[Foundation-l] what is partnership ?

[Christopher Mahan]

--- Neil Harris <usenet at 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 at yahoo.com
chris.mahan at gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/


		
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