[OSM-talk] Unlicensed use of the logo in iPhone app?

john at jfeldredge.com john at jfeldredge.com
Wed May 18 03:14:36 BST 2011


This may be an issue that differs by country.  Under US law, you don't have to actively defend a copyright, but a trademark can be lost, and become public domain, if it is not actively defended (by giving infringers notice that they are in violation, and, if necessary, suing them for trademark infringement).  I don't recall the exact length of time a trademark has to go undefended before the courts will say that it has become a generic term.

For example, the term "yellow pages", meaning a directory of business phone numbers, grouped by category, used to be a trademark of AT&T.  Since they took no action when competing companies used the term "yellow pages", the term can now legally be used by anyone.


-------Original Email-------
Subject :Re: [OSM-talk] Unlicensed use of the logo in iPhone app?
From  :mailto:dieterdreist at gmail.com
Date  :Tue May 17 04:40:29 America/Chicago 2011


2011/5/17 Russ Nelson <nelson at crynwr.com>:
> If you don't restrict use, you don't have a trademark


-1, you have a trademark when it is registered. This has nothing to do
with whether you enforce restricted use or not. You can at any time
restrict the use.


> But all is not lost. It's still licensed CC-By-SA, so anybody who uses
> it has to acknowledge OpenStreetMap.


no, he has to acknowledge the creator, which is Ken Vermette, and
maybe (depending on the license of the original logo) the creator of
the former logo. But all is not lost: of course it will be an implicit
acknowledgement of OSM to use the logo --- at least if it comes to a
point where it serves for its purpose: beeing a well known trademark
(wikipedia: a tm is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an
business organization or other legal entity to identify that the
products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears
originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or
services from those of other entities.)

cheers,
Martin

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