[Wikimedia-l] It's time to reclaim the community logo

[Strainu]

Hi,

Can the WMF still enforce the trademark during the cool-off period?

Thanks,
   Strainu

2013/9/26 John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com>:
> Hi,
>
> Further to our announcement on September 21, the opposition has been
> formally filed before the European Union’s Office of Harmonization for
> the Internal Market (OHIM) on September 25. You can read the
> opposition filing in the documents section of the EU trademark
> application[1].
>
> Additionally, an opposition observation has been filed but it is not
> yet available to the public at the URL mentioned above; our limited
> understanding is that it will be published there in the coming days.
> We’ll keep everyone informed on this aspect.
>
> So what is next?
>
> The OHIM will now review the Notice of Opposition to determine that
> the opposition is admissible.  This takes a few weeks. If the notice
> of opposition is found to be admissible, the 'cooling-off period'
> commences.[2]
>
> The 'cooling-off period' allows the parties can either negotiate an
> agreement, and either party may withdraw their claim to the mark
> without incurring additional costs. This period lasts between two
> months and two years. It is important that everyone understands that
> there is no need to act hastily. If the WMF and community need time to
> find the right solution, we will have two years.
>
> The WMF set the timetable by applying for this trademark, and they
> have not withdrawn that application or responded appropriately to
> community calls for this to be re-evaluated. The WMF was informed in
> March that we viewed the trademark registration as unacceptable. Even
> after our announcement on September 21, the WMF has not addressed the
> heart of the issue; they have chosen to focus the community attention
> on a new approach, a collective trademark, rather than consider the
> erosion of the Commons by their trademarking of a public domain logo
> against the intentions of the author of the logo.
>
> Contrary to the WMF’s claims on their ‘Request for consultation’[3],
> we have never said that the opposition needed to be filed on September
> 23. We are aware that we could have delayed the opposition until
> December. As the opposition process is able to proceed through the
> non-adversarial phase for two years, we believe it is appropriate that
> a properly focused formal process should commence now.
>
> During the first two months of the cooling-off period, we request that
> the WMF provides a brief to the community explaining why they believe
> they have a legal claim to the community logo, given that the board
> knew it was selected in order that the community did not need to
> request authorisation.[4]
>
> We also encourage the WMF to publish their research on collective
> trademarks, so that the community can make an informed decision about
> the utility of this approach. It is our understanding that, in the EU
> at least, the WMF will need to abandon their current trademark
> registration if they are to apply for a collective trademark.
>
> Regards,
> John Vandenberg
>
> == References ==
> * [1] http://oami.europa.eu/CTMOnline/RequestManager/en_Detail_NoReg?deno=&idappli=1152038&transition=ResultsDetailed
> * [2] http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/CTM/regProcess/opposition.en.do
> * [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Logo/Request_for_consultation#Notes
> * [4] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-September/045702.html
>
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