GNOME Project Seeks Donations For Trademark Battle With Groupon

Drinking Bleach writes Groupon has released a tablet-based point of sale system called Gnome, despite the well-known desktop environment's existence and trademark status. This is also not without Groupon's internal knowledge of the GNOME project; they were contacted about the infringement and flatly refused to change the name of their own product, in addition to filing many new trademark applications for theirs. The GNOME project is seeking donations to help them in a legal battle against these trademark applications, and to get Groupon to stop using their name. They are seeking at least $80,000 to challenge a first set of ten trademark applications from Groupon, out of 28 applications that have been filed.

Comments

How about a Linux windowing system...

[DiamondGeezer]

...called Groupon

Groupon Window System will take the best of windowing system technologies, mix it all up in a big bit bucket, and then start a flamewar followed by a schism. Just like all of the others.

IANL

[jmitchel!jmitchel.co]

I'm not a lawyer, but a POS and a desktop environment don't seem like overlapping categories for Trademark purposes.

Re:IANL

[havana9]

Some peple think that Gnome 3 is a fuming POS and say that Gnome 2 was way better tha the newer versions.

How is their infringment?

[Lunix Nutcase]

How would this be infringement? GNOME's trademark lists only the following goods and services:

Downloadable computer software tools and libraries used for the development of other software applications; downloadable computer software development tools; downloadable computer software for creating and managing a computer desktop; downloadable computer software for use as a graphical user interface; downloadable computer software for word processing, database management, and use as a spreadsheet

None of which this tablet system falls under other since this isn't "downloadable computer software". And:

Computer software development; computer software design; computer programming for others; technical consulting services in the field of computer software; licensing of intellectual property

Nor this.

I know this will not be popular of me to say, but this looks like IP trolling.

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gnome is certainly a PoS.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

A similar story:

"The Phoenix name was kept until April 14, 2003, when it was changed because of a trademark dispute with the BIOS manufacturer, Phoenix Technologies (which produces a BIOS-based browser called Phoenix FirstWare Connect). The new name, Firebird, met with mixed reactions, particularly as the Firebird database server already carried the name. In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. Continuing pressure from the Firebird community forced another change,[1] and on February 9, 2004 the project was renamed Mozilla Firefox (or Firefox for short)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Firefox

Just because you don't agree with the desktop environment's choice doesn't mean that they are in the wrong here, or that this wouldn't have lasting implications in the open-source community. Even if you aren't using Gnome-shell, chances are very strong that you are running something requiring GStreamer or GTK 2/3 that comes from the Gnome project. Open-source products have been bullied in the past (see the Firefox example above, or $4/device to Microsoft for their "development" of Android) by well-funded campaigns that seek to ride the coattails of a community-oriented product for their own profit. Dozens of community sites, Gnome-look.org, Worldofgnome.org, etc. and system libraries stand to lose of Groupon presses their trademark.

This is an assault on open-source software, and regardless of what you feel about the direction that Gnome is taking, it the project is still very relevant and this action should not be tolerated. It's okay to debate among the community about the direction of the project, but the community needs to have clear resolve to combat outside threats to its right to exist.

Trademark breadth

[tepples]

Trademarks are usually valid within a specific field of use. But the more famous the mark becomes, the broader the judge will construe exclusivity. For example, something like "COCA-COLA" is so famous that Coke's lawyers will have no trouble making a prima facie case for dilution if the mark is used for any other product. Mozilla had to rename Firebird to Firefox even though database software and web browser software aren't exactly the same field. But whether the "GNOME" mark applies to useful computer software in general or to GUI frameworks in particular is for a judge to decide after the GNOME project's counsel presents its case.

Re:Trademark breadth

[ShadowRangerRIT]

How does that make sense? The risk of brand theft is higher with a more widely recognized product. If I introduce Coca Cola branded headphones (to name one of the few things Coca Cola doesn't stick their name on yet AFAIK), my sales would be boosted by the brand name association Coca Cola built, not the merits of my product. That's why trademark protections exist; to avoid borrowing/stealing/damaging (if the product sucks) other companies' reputations unfairly.

Re:Trademark breadth

[Theaetetus]

For example, something like "COCA-COLA" is so famous that Coke's lawyers will have no trouble making a prima facie case for dilution if the mark is used for any other product.

Wrong. are numerous registered marks that are "COCA-COLA" that are not from the Coca-Cola company.

Your link doesn't work. And a search on TESS for "coca-cola" as the full mark and "NOT Coca-Cola Company" as the applicant returns one hit, an abandoned application by a pro se "sovereign citizen": "Harvey W. Wiley DBA We The People INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 900 Georgia Ave Chattanooga TENNESSEE 37402". Searching for "coca-cola" in the description of the mark with "NOT Coca-Cola Company" as the applicant returns one hit, a design for an author's business card that uses the same red color as Coke: "The color(s) coca-cola red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a coca-cola red kneeling fisherman." But it's also abandoned.

Finally, searching for "coca-cola" anywhere in the application, but NOT the Coca-Cola Company as the applicant turns up a pile of applications... from people with addresses at "Coca-cola Plaza" or "Coca-cola Park" in various cities - i.e. tenants in Coke's industrial parks. Is that what you searched for and thought you found?

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Anonymous Coward]

GNOME (the desktop environment) has been used as the point-of-sale operating system on cash registers at Lowe's Home Improvement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowe%27s) since the early 2000's. You can still walk around their stores and see Gnome 1.x with Enlightenment as its window manager on their _cash registers_ in 2014. That alone should be grounds for the GNOME Project's case.

GNOME stands for

[tepples]

Originally GNU Network Object Model Environment, but I think this has been deemphasized since at least 2.0.

Re:Huh?

[jandersen]

Any way, it shouldn't be a problem; they could just use a translation of the word 'Gnome' - for example, in Swedish: Nissan. Problem solved.

Huh? What trademark?

[SEE]

Thought they already changed the name of the desktop environment to MATE

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[nadaou]

Hear hear. If one of the biggest and best known names in the FOSS world can't defend themselves from something so blatant it just encourages other big corporations from abusing smaller groups.

Red hat, we're looking at you to step up here.

The Systemd and GNOME3 toxic manouvers are irrelevant.

Re:Both are a POS

[Hognoxious]

Soon everything will be a POS - Poettering's Operating System.