[Zope] Re: Zope Foundation Update

[Matt Hamilton]

Tino Wildenhain wrote:

> The statement of ZC indicates they want to transfer their trademark
> to ZF and now find the european trademark in other hands. OTOH, why
> not just transfer/licence what they have (the .us trademark) and
> just agree to ZEA transfer/licence the european trademark to ZF
> too? 

No, just the opposite.  ZC do *not* want to transfer the marks to the 
ZF.  I do find this position strange.  Whilst they are willing to 
transfer all the IP, for which yes we are grateful.  The issue being 
that many companies around the world are investing marketing money and 
time in developing and promoting the 'zope brand'.  The problem is that 
this brand now (since ZC renamed from DC) also co-incides with Zope 
Corporation.  The value of this brand is increasing and needs to be 
protected, hence why the marks have been trademarked in the other 
companies in which ZC did not register.  I am guessing that ZC 
registered the marks in the countries that are most commercially 
valuable to them -- an understandable move as it was their bucks paying 
for it.  However the *zope community* extends beyond these countries and 
needs protection too.

The main conflict arises because:

* The zope community and Zope Corporation use the same word 'zope'
   to identify themselves.
* ZC don't want to let go of their trademarked name as that is a
   major asset to their business.
* Many people in the zope community feel uneasy that a corporation
   which can be bought and sold owns the name of the software that
   they are developing.

All these points are perfectly valid and understandable, but what we 
need to work out is a way in which we can try and combine and merge 
these conflicting points in a sane way.

I personally (remember, these views are all mine) welcome Rob's ideas on 
how to ensure that ZC's potential successors or assigns use the Zope 
trademark in a fair way.  The problem being, I don't see how that can 
happen if the trademarks are owned by ZC as if the company were bought 
it would be up to the new owned what would happen with its own property. 
  Yes we could put a contract in place between ZF and ZC to say that ZF 
can be the arbiter of any disputes, but I don't see how that can remain 
in place if ZC changes hands.

-Matt

-- 
Matt Hamilton                                       matth at netsight.co.uk
Netsight Internet Solutions, Ltd.        Business Vision on the Internet
http://www.netsight.co.uk                             +44 (0)117 9090901
Web Design | Zope/Plone Development & Consulting | Co-location | Hosting