[Osmf-talk] Release - OpenLitterMap.com Paper now Published Online [ OPEN ACCESS ]

[Seán Lynch]

Hi Frederik,

I can understand that and I didn’t know about any trademark policy when I
registered a domain for my project almost 3 years ago and until now. To the
best of my knowledge this is the first time anyone has brought this up with
me.

It seems as if the trademark policy was introduced in 2018.

I have reached out to this mailing list a few times over the last 2-3 years
and I have been following the discussion somewhat and I have even met with
others who I consider very knowledgeable about OSM and you are the first to
tell me that I might get sued for doing my best to try and open data to
stop plastic going into the ocean in the best way that I know possible on
my own initiative without any help from anyone but thanks that’s just
really made my day after the years of hard work and sacrifices I have made
to try and produce open data on something that I consider important.

I honestly thought that people in this group would have been delighted to
see some initiative in trying to produce new forms of Open Geographic Maps
and data that can also be used to fill gaps in OSM. The response overall,
not limited to any group, has been profoundly disappointing to the extent
that I am wondering, what’s the point in trying to do all of this work if
no one, not even a crazy bitcoin philanthropist or the OSMF cares, and the
people I thought would sympathize and help me the most actually now are
actually emailing me 1 year after my platform is in production about sueing
me in court for violating a trademark policy I didn’t even know existed?

Why didn’t anyone reach out to me over the last 12 months about a trademark
policy? I made it quite clear as early as I possibly could what my
intentions were with developing OpenLitterMap. Maybe ClosedLitterMap is a
more realistic paradigm after all considering the lack of support? Do I
also need permission to create that?

One of the greatest challenges I face is trying to explain to people why
they should create open data and why this is different from creating closed
data on other platforms. Most people mapping plastic pollution today do not
question the openness of the data they are crowdsourcing and I find this
lack of geospatial knowledge problematic. Can you imagine a community that
said we are going to map all the streets in the worlds, you can see them on
a map, but you can’t access any data. That is what’s going on in the
majority of the litter mapping community right now. To me, the words open
litter and map achieved the most simple and effective way of communicating
why people should create open data on plastic pollution and I was not aware
that I needed permission from anyone in any organization to try and
communicate that in the most effective manner that I deemed possible.

Sure, I would like to be friends and settle this in a responsible manner. I
will consider applying for a license if it will keep you happy and not sue
me for doing my work that I consider important. I just wish someone was
proactive about it and said “hey maybe we should write to this guy who is
trying to create new open forms of geographic data on an issue of urgent
planetary concern and see if we can help? After all we are OpenStreetMap
and we know what we are talking about and this is just a guy trying to
figure things out without any support from anyone”

After all I am the one writing to you for your valuable feedback and the
reason I have done so is because I hope this can amount to something much
more positive and constructive.

Best

Seán



On Thu 14 Jun 2018 at 7:39 a.m., Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On 14.06.2018 00:34, Seán Lynch wrote:
> > I do not believe that I need to apply to any other organisation for
> > permission to develop OpenLitterMap.
>
> Let's phrase it differently:
>
> We, as OpenStretMap, would *like* everyone who creates an
> Open-Something-Map to ask us before they do that (and let *us* decide if
> we think the term can be confused with OSM, instead of deciding
> themselves).
>
> Whether someone actually respects this wish, or shows us the finger and
> says "go away I don't have to ask anyone for anything", is a different
> kettle of fish.
>
> And whether we then sue them for trademark infringement, is still another.
>
> Realistically, if you decide to ignore our wish, it is not very likely
> that we will actually sue you in court, especially if what you're doing
> is a niche thing, because we have limited resources. Just don't expect
> us to become friends either.
>
> Bye
> Frederik
>
> --
> Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
>
> _______________________________________________
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> osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>
-- 
https://openlittermap.com @OpenLitterMap (Fb, Tw, Ig)
M.Sc. Coastal & Marine Environments (NUIG, 2015)
M.Sc. GIS & Remote Sensing (UCC, 2014)
B.A. Geography & Economics (UCC, 2011)
ie.linkedin.com/in/seanlynchgis
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