On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 07:27:38PM +0100, Gerber van der Graaf wrote: > OpenCFD (R) has issued new guidelines for their tradmark OpenFOAM: > http://www.openfoam.com/legal/trademark-guidelines.php > My question is if these are legal: not allowing hydrostaticFoam as your > self-written new solver for example. So, actually they are claiming the > "FOAM" word to be used in a name. > Is Pepsi Cola is a trademark infringement of Coca Cola? It's certainly legal for them to set any guidelines they want to for the use of their trademark. The question is, are you doing anything that infringes their trademark in the first place? If you're not doing anything to begin with that requires a trademark license from them, then you should ignore any such trademark policies. They mean nothing *unless you need a trademark license*. And the answer to whether you need a trademark license lies in statute and precedent. You should consult an attorney if you have doubts about whether you're doing something that infringes a trademark. But common sense goes a long way here... -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ slangasek@ubuntu.com vorlon@debian.org
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