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Comodo Attempting to Register 'Let's Encrypt' Trademarks, And That's Not Right (letsencrypt.org)
Let's Encrypt is a nonprofit aimed at encrypting the entire web. It provides free certificates, and its service is backed by EFF, Mozilla, Cisco, Akamai and others. Despite it being around for years, security firm Comodo, which as of 2015, was the largest issuer of SSL certificates with a 33.6% market share on 6.6% of all web domains, last year in October filed for the trademark Let's Encrypt. The team at Let's Encrypt wrote in a blog post today that they have asked Comodo to abandon its "Let's Encrypt" applications, directly but it has refused to do so. The blog post adds: We've forged relationships with millions of websites and users under the name Let's Encrypt, furthering our mission to make encryption free, easy, and accessible to everyone. We've also worked hard to build our unique identity within the community and to make that identity a reliable indicator of quality. We take it very seriously when we see the potential for our users to be confused, or worse, the potential for a third party to damage the trust our users have placed in us by intentionally creating such confusion. By attempting to register trademarks for our name, Comodo is actively attempting to do just that. Update: 06/23 22:25 GMT by M :Comodo CEO has addressed the issue on company's forum (screenshot).
The definition of use in commerce (my emphasis added) - right from the USPTO: For applications filed under the use-in-commerce basis, you must be using the mark in the sale or transport of goods or the rendering of services in “interstate” commerce between more than one state or U.S. territory, or in commerce between the U.S. and another country. For goods, the mark must appear on the goods (e.g., tags or labels), the container for the goods, or displays associated with the goods. For services, the mark must be used in the sale or advertising of the services.
In the US if you use a trademark, you own the the trademark even if you haven't registered it. Since it is already being used in commerce for that mark, the application shouldn't be successful and can be challenged in the courts if it is granted.
Exactly - why aren't they sending a challenge to the USPTO yesterday?
Trademarks are registered all the time. In fact, it's a public process - every new application is posted so opposition to registration can be recorded. If the Lets Encrypt folks aren't filing an opposition, (and not done so ages ago), then they're basically letting the ball drop.
It happens all the time - plenty of companies apply for trademarks only to have them opposed during application.
In fact, the thornier side of trademarks are marks not necessarily used in commerce - Microsoft, for example, owns two trademarks they don't use on products (NorthWinds and Contoso, I believe). Instead, they're registered so Microsoft can use them in demos and other things freely without running into any trademark issues.
I actually didn't really want to read too deeply into this when the article first came up. I figured it could be a thorny issue and that maybe Comodo had previously used "Let's Encrypt" in marketing somewhere prior to the free campaign. Then I read their CEO's statement, and it's pretty clear that he just plain feels threatened and he acts as if he invented the concept of a 90-day free trial. I can certainly see where he could be losing money; but I guess as an onlooker, if someone can come along and take your money that way, your position was pretty weak in the first place.
So I guess I'd say I now feel that attempting to register this trademark seems pretty abusive, and the person who convinced me of that was Comodo's CEO in his post on his company's forums.