[IAEP] [SLOBS] Discussion of policy for using Sugar trademark

[Walter Bender]

We have had a decision panel mulling over some issues regarding the
use of the Sugar name and we hope to have a report from them sometime
in the next few weeks. However, there are more general issues
regarding trademarks that we should be discussing as a community. I
had raised a few questions at the most recent SLOBs meeting (See
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Meeting_Log-2009-11-20):

** At what point does a modified distribution no longer meet community
standards?
** At what point does a modified distribution no longer become viable
in terms of the community's ability to support it?
** Where is the line the community draws between what can be called
Sugar and what can not be called Sugar?
** Is there a standard mechanism for modifying a Sugar distribution
that would keep it within the bounds of community standards?
** What are the guidelines and procedures for arbitrating these questions?

Bringing clarity to these questions will help make interactions with
the community more predictable and will make it easier for
third-parties to work with us.

These are not questions that are unique to Sugar. Fedora, for example,
has these guidelines in place:

[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:Secondary_trademark_usage_guidelines]
[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:Trademark_guidelines] and
[https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Remix]

Over the next few weeks, we are soliciting input and this will be a
major topic of discussion at our next SLOBs meeting, 04 December at
15:00 UTC (10:00 EST).

regards.

-walter

-- 
Walter Bender
Sugar Labs
http://www.sugarlabs.org