Branding guidelines -- clarify legal rights around trademark

[fulldecent]

Current guidelines are here: https://www.ethereum.org/brand

Please specify legal authority or "teeth" which applies to these guidelines as well as specific policies which Ethereum Foundation (EF) recognizes. Answers should be explained clearly on the above page, but we can discuss here before then.

I am working on projects that will bring high-value real-world assets onto the blockchain. We will likely use Ethereum Mainnet -- but our lawyers have many questions. Most of them can be traced back to EF policies regarding usage of the Ethereum trademark.

WHAT IS THE TRADEMARK

• Does Ethereum Foundation (Stiftung Ethereum), Zug, Switzerland express exclusive ownership over the trademarks ethereum, Ethereum, and/or the graphics shown?
• Is the trademark registered? If so where?

WHAT IS THE LEGAL AUTHORITY

• Does Ethereum Foundation commit to police unauthorized uses of its trademarks?
• If I copy Wanchain, rename it to Ethereum and use the Ethereum logo and publish it at ethereum2.org then what is your standard response for this situation -- and what legal authority do you cite for this response?
• If a hard fork of Ethereum mainnet happens and the fork which EF supports is different than the one that the community supports then will EF exert its influence against the community variant? (Note that in this situation both will have the same "chain id", despite the best efforts of EIP-155).

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE RELEVANCE OF ETHEREUM FOUNDATION IS THREATENED?

The present unclarity of EF's commitment and policies towards the Ethereum trademark has not caused much trouble for the community yet. EF may behave differently if it is threatened by a replacement.

• Is Ethereum Classic (a competitor) an authorized use of the Ethereum name and trademark?
• Does the EF commit to allow competitor use of the Ethereum trademark in the event that the competitor achieves market favor over the EF-supported product?*

*This is not a hypothetical question -- I want to know and clarify what is the current policy that EF has.

The future situation that such a policy would apply to is hypothetical, one example is if EF officially supports a fork, let us call it THEDAO2.0. It seems like a great idea and EF updates all software for THEDAO2.0 but actually the market favors not upgrading their clients. However the non-upgrade clients maintain the name Ethereum and the Ethereum logo and the community recognizes this network as the canonical implementation. We want to know what is EF's position should this happen.

SUMMARY

I am working on bringing important real-world assets onto the blockchain, possibly using Ethereum. Think government-recognized ownership of land, government and industry-backed identity verification and high value assets.

There's going to be contracts and real-world trust based on these things.

So the contracts needs to reference something like:

• According to our smart contract, 0xabcde..., as deployed on Ethereum mainnet (CURRENTLY THIS IS UNUSABLE, IT IS NOT CLEAR WHAT ETHEREUM MEANS)
• ... as deployed on the variant of Ethereum with the largest market capitalization on coinmarketcap.com (THIS IS NOT USABLE, WHAT IS A "VARIANT"?)
• ... as deployed on network duly recognized by Ethereum Foundation (WHAT IS "DULY", WHAT IS THE GOVERNANCE PROCESS?)
• ... as deployed on Ethereum mainnet or a subsequent variant network recognized by XXX and communicated to you by XXX (where XXX is the government or other agency).

At present many major enterprise/government projects are considering hyperledger because the governance can be more clear.

Questions

• WHAT IS THE TRADEMARK
• WHAT IS THE LEGAL AUTHORITY
• WHAT HAPPENS IF THE RELEVANCE OF ETHEREUM FOUNDATION IS THREATENED?

[fulldecent]

Here is an example of well thought-out policy for a community project that explains acceptable and unacceptable usage of the brand trademark:

https://ghost.org/trademark/

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Trademark Usage Policy

The word "Ghost" and the Ghost logo are trademarks owned by The Ghost Foundation. We would like to extend fair usage of our trademarks as widely as possible, so we have created the following guidelines to help people understand what is (and isn't) ok.

Permission for Use

Written permission from The Ghost Foundation is required to use the Ghost name or logo as any part of your project or associated assets. Please contact us on info at ghost.org if you would like to enquire about permission for use.

The purpose of a trademark is not to prevent anyone else in the world from using it, it is to prevent confusion amongst consumers as to which brand is the "official" one. Our primary criteria for the approval or denial of trademark usage requests is whether or not people might confuse it for an official Ghost Foundation project.

Automatic Approval

In some special cases, we will grant automatic permission for a project to use the Ghost trademark. Explicit permission to use the trademark is not required when a project meets the following criteria:

1. You exclusively use the Ghost trademark to either extend or improve the Ghost software, or to encourage the use of the Ghost software (in short — "foster the Ghost software" ).
   • Ok: An open access, free monthly newsletter called "Ghost Weekly"
   • Ok: A freely distributed Ghost theme called "Gold Plated Ghost"
   • Not Ok: A Ghost fork called "A Non-Sucky Version of Ghost"
   • Not Ok: Selling tshirts with the Ghost logo to raise money for another cause
2. The Ghost trademark is used in a domain name, title of website, seminar, software package, book, magazine or video that is exclusively intended to foster the Ghost software and does not suggest an "official link".
   • Automatic Approval: A non-commercial website called howtoinstallghost.com
   • Automatic Approval: A keynote called Getting Started with Ghost
   • Requires Permission: A book titled The Official Ghost Guide
   • Requires Permission: A commercial website called ghosthosting.com
3. The Ghost trademark is used for the title of a camp or meet-up, but not in combination with the words: conference, conf, convention or foundation.
   • Ok: Ghost Annual Meetup 2013
   • Not Ok: GhostConf London
4. You want to display the official Ghost logo (whether for commercial or non-commercial use) in a standalone and unaltered form.
   • Ok: Putting the Ghost logo on your product packaging
   • Not Ok: Changing the colours or shape of the Ghost logo for your purposes
5. You want to use the Ghost trademark to describe your product or services without implying any kind of official link to The Ghost Foundation or the Ghost open source project.
   • Ok: referring to your services as specialising in Ghost development
   • Not Ok: referring to yourself as The Ghost Consultant

Automatic Restriction

In some specific cases, you will always require explicit permission from The Ghost Foundation in order to use the Ghost trademark. Even if you meet the criteria for automatic approval, you must always seek permission for trademark use if your project meets any of the following criteria:

1. The use of the Ghost trademark suggests an "official link" between your product or service and The Ghost Foundation. For example:
   • A domain called officialghostfaq.org
   • A corporation named Ghost Development Ltd
   • A brand of Ghost Support Agency
2. The Ghost trademark is used as part of a "ghost.tld" domain name. For example:
   • Ghost.ly
   • Ghost.info
   • Ghost.eu
3. The Ghost trademark is used as part of a domain name that covers an entire category of products or services that are relevant to the Ghost community. For example:
   • Ghost-Themes.com
   • Ghost-Plugins.org
   • Ghost-Tshirts.us
   • Ghost-Mobile.co.uk
   • Ghost-Magazine.eu
   • Ghost-Hosting.net
4. The Ghost trademark is used as part of the name of a company, organisation, trade name or association. For example:
   • Ghost Users Germany
   • Ghost Inc
   • Ghost Bloggers Association
5. You would like to use the Ghost trademark as a part of an advertising campaign. For example:
   • Google Adwords/Adsense
   • Facebook promoted posts
   • A television advertisement

If you're not sure whether your use qualifies for automatic approval or not, please ask!

Applying for Permission

If you would like to apply for permission to use the Ghost trademark based on the guidelines above, please email us directly on info at ghost.org including your full details and the details of your requested use.

Your application's approval will be considered based primarily on whether the product or service in question...

• suggest an offical link or could lead to confusion about being an official project
• promotes Ghost usage around the world
• is released under an open source license compatible with Ghost's license
• is created by significant contributors to the Ghost open source project
• has a positive impact on the overall Ghost community

Rules of Usage

With the exception of the "nominative fair use" of the Ghost trademark, your use of the trademark is subject to the following rules (irrespective of whether you received automatic or explicit permission for use):

1. Any use of the Ghost trademark indicates acceptance of this policy.
2. The Ghost trademark cannot be used for illegal, defamatory or humiliating purposes, or any other purpose that may negatively impact the Ghost software or The Ghost Foundation.
3. Wherever possible, the Ghost trademark should be accompanied by the following text (or an appropriate translation): Ghost is a trademark of The Ghost Foundation.

These trademark rules and guidelines are subject to change at any time. It is your responsibility to check this agreement periodically for changes.