[OSM-legal-talk] Copyright of OSM-Logo

[Peter Miller]

> On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 08:04:00PM +0000, MJ Ray wrote:
> > > Does
> > > anybody here really think that the foundation's chairman would snatch
> > > the trademark away from his own organization? [...]
> 
> Unlikely. Maybe Steve or somebody else from the foundation can shed some
> light on how this happened and what the plans are to remedy the
> situation?
> 
> I see the first mentioning of the Trademark issue in the 15th November
> 2007 meeting minutes "OSMF Trademark - Steve to obtain formal quote.".
> Again in April 2008 "OSM Trademark Quote - Steve planning to do a search
> personally (L 80)". In May it is "OSM Trademark Quote - Steve still to
> progress". Later the subject seems to get lost. Maybe the unpublished
> minutes from more recent meetings have some information.
> 
> What is also unclear: Are we talking about the OSM trademark or the OSMF
> trademark. In the Nov 2007 minutes its OSMF, later its OSM.
>

We are talking about the OSM Trademark which is the one registered. Clearly
the appropriate place for this is with the foundation (along with the domain
names) and I also am sure that this is where it will end up soon.

> > It wouldn't be the first time, but I expect it was a mistake.
> 
> While we are on this topic. What about the domain name openstreetmap.org?
> It also belongs to Steve personally:
> 

However I notice that one of the stated purposes of the foundation from its
website is to be "the custodian of the servers located at UCL and the
www.openstreetmap.org domain name."
http://foundation.openstreetmap.org/about/what-is-the-foundation/

Again, I think we can be confidence that the domains will also soon be
transferred into foundation ownership in the near future.

Having started a number of businesses I know from personal experience how
entangled this can be at the start and that it takes time to separate
oneself from the thing one created.

One of the concerns might be that the low membership base of the foundation
would make it easy for 'bad-co' to dominate the membership and therefore
control the voting for the board. I think we may need to address this at the
same time as the foundation gains control of these core assets. Btw, is
there a reason why membership costs £15? Could we not automatically invite
anyone who has done more than a certain amount of work on the Data to become
a member? Ie, they get a message in their in-box inviting them and they only
have to say 'yes'. Indeed isn't that a better qualification for membership
than giving £15?

Btw, our lawyer also suggested that some of the wording on the articles of
association should be tightened up to control what can and can-not happen to
the assets that the foundation holds. 



Regards,



Peter


> > whois openstreetmap.org
> [...]
> main ID:D104738119-LROR
> Domain Name:OPENSTREETMAP.ORG
> Created On:09-Aug-2004 18:47:25 UTC
> Last Updated On:04-Aug-2007 13:39:08 UTC
> Expiration Date:09-Aug-2009 18:47:25 UTC
> Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, Inc. (R91-LROR)
> Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
> Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
> Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
> Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
> Registrant ID:GODA-07651304
> Registrant Name:Stephen Coast
> Registrant Street1:68 Delancey Street
> Registrant Street2:Camden
> Registrant Street3:
> Registrant City:London
> Registrant State/Province:England
> Registrant Postal Code:NW1 7RY
> Registrant Country:GB
> Registrant Phone:+44.2076177472
> Registrant Phone Ext.:
> Registrant FAX:
> Registrant FAX Ext.:
> Registrant Email:steve at asklater.com
> Admin ID:GODA-27651304
> Admin Name:Stephen Coast
> [...]
> 
> This contradicts what Etienne said here:
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2007-July/015071.html
> 
> "The OpenStreetMap was established about a year ago to serve a number of
> purposes. [...] Specifically the foundation is the custodian of the
> servers located at UCL and the www.openstreetmap.org domain name."
> 
> Jochen
> --
> Jochen Topf  jochen at remote.org  http://www.remote.org/jochen/  +49-721-
> 388298
> 
> 
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