[Foundation-l] Foundation logo : pain and suffering

[ATR]

|> > I don't think the foundation owns the mediawiki logo. Copyright wise
|> > it is in the public domain.
|> Hoi,
|> Given the age of the thing it cannot be PD yet. They are part of a
|> trademark and as such they are owned by the Foundation. They can if they
|> so choose license the logos. This is problematic because the rights that
|> are usual for other WMF content contrasts with the requirement of
|> maintaining the trademark.
|
|No, the MediaWiki one really is public domain.
|http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:MediaWiki-smaller-logo.png
|
|Whether or not it is also a trademark of the Foundation doesn't affect
|its copyright status.
|
|Angela.

Someone cannot declare a work PD just by copying it. It seems the 
actual logo was created by Eric Moller, and it has always been the 
understanding with all logos that they were "works made for hire" for
the foundation. This has been discussed previously and Jimbo can
back this up. Just because someone put a PD tag on the page at 
Commons does not invalidate the Foundation's claim to this logo.

As far as the "trademark" status of the logo, the word MEDIAWIKI is
a registered mark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. I know this because
I am the attorney of record on the USPTO file that granted this mark to
the foundation. Also the actual logo is also a mark of the Wikimedia 
Foundation Inc., and is used to identify the MediaWiki software which 
is released by the Foundation and is a foundation project.

Of course all trademarks can also be used based upon principles of
fair use that apply to trademarks in a similiar way as copyrights. The
important issue is that the mark is not used in a way to confuse the
public or dilute the brand which the mark represents as this is the kind
of protection that the law affords mark holders.

Alex T Roshuk
Attorney at law