+1 to many responses in this thread. I'm in favour of a bit more centralized steering of OSM. Not only by OSMF, but also by other people (within and outside working groups) who will put a bit more coordinated energy in thinking about strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Like addressing this threat: <a href="http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2012-December/001951.html">http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2012-December/001951.html</a><div>
<br></div><div>And luckily the board acts on this (source: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19wLhnezowHBio9zGaJkNaCbDX-gmWNHUSdx1kdQJYY0/edit#">https://docs.google.com/document/d/19wLhnezowHBio9zGaJkNaCbDX-gmWNHUSdx1kdQJYY0/edit#</a>):</div>
<div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.07022777828387916" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:medium;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The board resolves to strengthen the OSMF position with respect to its intellectual property, in particular trade and service marks. The board requests the Chairman to engage suitable, cost effective, legal support to</span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">a) register the OpenStreetMap mark and logo in the USA, if not possible as separate marks, as a combined mark.</span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">b) register the same in any other territories key to the further development of OSM (example: Russia)</span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">c) the same as for any other potentially valuable marks (including registration in the EU)</span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">d) to complete the transfer of the EU OpenStreetMap mark to the OSMF </span></b></div>
<div><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:Arial"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:Arial">It would be unimaginable if we couldn't use the word Openstreetmap anymore in the Wiki, because someone in some state on this globe trademarks it :-)</span></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap">I also believe it's simply not always possible to have 100% transparancy, so I like Simon's offer to address him personally. </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap">Let's act on these kind of threats (go on with that, OSMF), and let's act on other important things for the future of OSM, with a bit more coordination. </span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:15px;white-space:pre-wrap">Cheers, Johan<br></span></font><br><div class="gmail_quote">
2013/2/2 Alex Barth <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:alex@mapbox.com" target="_blank">alex@mapbox.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div class="im">On Friday, February 1, 2013, Simon Poole wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span>If you find use of the term “geocode” on our
wiki or help site please replace it with a generic term (for
example "search"), or report it to my e-mail address.</span></div><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><br></div></blockquote><div> </div></div><span style="font-family:Helvetica;line-height:normal;font-size:medium">Hey Simon - I find this hard to believe. Can you confirm that OSMF was requested to entirely cease the use of the term 'geocode' in any of its properties? If that's the case, I wonder how much legal ground this has. Even if it was sadly possible for someone to trademark an everyday term it seems we should be able to use it in documentation like the wiki, in help forums, in a blog article, etc.</span><div dir="ltr">
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
</div>
</blockquote><span style="font-family:Helvetica;line-height:normal;font-size:medium"><span></span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;line-height:normal;font-size:medium"><br>
</span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;line-height:normal;font-size:medium"><span>Can you publish the notice?</span></span><div></div>
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