[Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia.ru & Wikimedia.de

[Daniel Mayer]

Erik wrote:
>Um, I'm not sure there even *is* a registered 
>Wikipedia trademark, let alone in Russia. 
>Until we have such a trademark, we can only 
>ask them nicely to stop, but they're acting in full
> compliance with the law.

IIRC from my business law classes, registration is only needed before seeking 
actual legal action in court (just as with copyright infringement). But 
"Wikipedia" is still a trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation. That's why 
registered trademarks and plain old trademarks have different symbols to 
represent them. IANAL but the ru.Wikipedia/Wikipedia.ru use does seem to 
cause a very real confusion as to what Russian "Wikipedia" is the actual one 
that is part of the Wikimedia family. 

Some relevant paras from http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark

	A trademark (or, as referred to in Commonwealth 
	countries, a "trade mark") is a distinctive name, 
	phrase, symbol, design, picture, or style used by a 
	business to identify itself to consumers. 

Like "Wikipedia"

	Trademarking is a central legal component for 
	corporate branding. 

	The basic policy of trademark law is to prevent the 
	public from being deceived and allow the producer 
	of a product to have a specific product associated 
	with a specific manufacturer,

Like a wiki encyclopedia named "Wikipedia"

	By identifying the source of goods or services, marks 
	help consumers to identify their expected quality and 
	assist in identifying goods and services that meet the 
	individual consumer's expectations.

Like our NPOV policy and standards of quality. 

	Another underlying purpose of trademark law is 
	protecting the owner's investment in the quality of the 
	goods or services sold under the mark known as dilution.

Allowing Wikipedia.ru to exist as a wiki encyclopedia will dilute our 
trademark and encourage the creation of encyclopedias and similar things at 
Wikipedia.us, Wikipedia.uk, Wikipedia.au, Wikipedia.fr, Wikipedia.de, 
Wikipedia.info, Wikipedia.biz etc. The word "Wikipedia" would no longer be 
associated with just our encyclopedia project - we will have lost control of 
our trademark and IIRC once that happens we will not be able to regain 
control either legally or practically.  

	Therefore, trademark law protects businesses from unfair 
	competition and deceptive advertising by their competitors 
	which can dilute the distinctiveness of a mark.

Like having a Wikipedia.ru with advertisements. We can't control what they 
post and whether or not they sully the Wikipedia name. 

But,

	Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Corporation that sold a soft drink 
	called "Coke" in red and white cans would clearly be guilty 
	of trademark infringement, confusing consumers as to the 
	source of the product (though such confusion need not be 
	intentional to be infringing). On the other hand, a company 
	selling the carbonized coal byproduct called "coke" to steel 
	mills would not likely be guilty of infringement, because there 
	is little chance any consumer will mistake the two. 

This is why I think Wikimedia.de is less of a problem.  

However, 

	The advent of the Domain Name System has lead to attempts 
	by trademark holders to take over domain names based on 
	trade mark rights. Unlike a trademark, which is restricted by 
	country and class of goods, domain names can be global and 
	not limited by goods or service. 

So IMO we are on pretty solid legal grounds here even without the last 
paragraph (IMO, the last paragraph is a bit morally wrong and we shouldn't 
approach this matter via that route unless forced to do so).  

-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)