[foundation-board] Open Knowledge Foundation trademark portfolio - 5th Jan deadline

Fri Dec 20 18:20:03 UTC 2013

Jane, all,

We expect new brand wording and graphics late February.

When scoping the trademark work we did discuss the potential rebrand with
Charles Russell. Once we have a mark registered (especially as the full
name "Open Knowledge Foundation" is being registered with a logo) it will
be easy to change to a new logo and they advised we moved ahead with the
old brand to get the precedent date.  Half of the CTM applications are
products and not affected by the rebrand and have strong brandnames already
(although if they receive new graphics in line with new brand later, we can
again change the graphic on the registration more easily and cheaply than a
wholly new application).

I note that our branding agency is likely to recommend that we consider
renaming; at the very least, the "Foundation" is known to be a troublesome
word (people expect us to have an endowment and to make grants).  If we do
that we may need to look at an additional registration.

Best regards,

Laura

On 20 December 2013 10:21, Jane Silber <jane.silber at canonical.com> wrote:

>  Hi Laura -
>
> I think that in the long run it will be useful to have US protection, but
> I don't see urgency to do so prior to 5 Jan.  However, the topic has also
> raised another question in my mind. I know that you are doing some work
> around branding.  What is the scope and timeline of that work? If the logo
> and or name may change shortly, does it even make sense to continue with
> all the current CTM applications or should some/all be paused until the
> branding work is complete?
>
> best,
> Jane
>
>
>
> On 19/12/13 15:40, Laura James wrote:
>
> All,
>
>  *Question for the board:* Should we add US [and optionally other
> territory] registration to our existing EU trademark filing, for a total of
> 6 marks at a cost of around £2k per mark?
>
>  *My recommendation: *Not at this time, to control costs; having CTM is
> adequate for now for our purposes
>
>  *Reason for email: *we may wish to file by 5th January to get advance
> date on the marks; after 5th January we can still file but won't gain
> additional 6 month date advantage
>
>  *If any board members feel we should move to file in the US or any other
> countries before 5th January, please respond asap and certainly by 1st
> January.  If I don't hear anything I will NOT file for additional countries
> before 5th Jan.*
>
>  Full background below.
>
>  best regards,
>
>  Laura
>
>
>
>  *Background*:
>
>  With board authorisation for total costs around £10k total we began the
> process of registering the below trademarks in EU27 last summer.   These
> have now just been published for opposition purposes.  We have until
> January 5th 2015 to file additional marks in other countries if we wish to
> claim the original filing date in those new countries.  We can of course
> file marks later on but the dates would be from the new application, not
> from this original round of applications.
>
>  We chose to file trademarks to protect our brand against misuse and to
> give us some grounds on which we could deal with, for instance, a local
> group "going rogue" and doing something bad, or a group using our name but
> not following our open principles.  Without a much more formal legal
> structure for community engagement, we have few options to protect our
> brand, and the trademark gives us a straightforward route to tackle
> problems if they arise, rather than adding friction to the process of
> engaging with us.
>
>  As advised we filed for EU / CTM marks in the first instance and now we
> have heard these are published, we are able to extend to new territories.
> The US seems the most likely where we may wish to protect, as it is large
> and active in open data; I can get quotes for other territories as well if
> desired (eg SE Asia, Africa, S America, all of which are growing areas for
> our work)
>
>  Trademarks applied for, based on advice from Charles Russell LLP:
>
>  OKF
> OKFN
> Open Knowledge Foundation  + Logo
> OpenSpending logo-style mark
>  School of Data logo-style mark
> CKAN
>
>  Filing in the US is estimated at £2k per mark (ie total £12k) and other
> countries will add to this. I can secure quotes from Charles Russell if
> desired.
>
>
>  --
>
>
> * Dr Laura James CEO  | skype: laura.james  |  @LaurieJ
> <https://twitter.com/LaurieJ> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> <http://okfn.org/> Empowering through Open Knowledge http://okfn.org/
> <http://okfn.org/>  |  @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN>  |  OKF on Facebook
> <https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork>  |  Blog <http://blog.okfn.org/>  |
>  Newsletter <http://okfn.org/about/newsletter> *
>
>
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>
>
> --
> Jane Silber | CEO | Canonical
> Dir: +44 (0)20 7630 2472 | Mob: +44 (0)7899 891 943www.canonical.com | www.ubuntu.com
>
>
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-- 

*Dr Laura JamesCEO  | skype: laura.james  |  @LaurieJ
<https://twitter.com/LaurieJ>The Open Knowledge Foundation
<http://okfn.org/>Empowering through Open Knowledgehttp://okfn.org/
<http://okfn.org/>  |  @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN>  |  OKF on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork>  |  Blog <http://blog.okfn.org/>  |
 Newsletter <http://okfn.org/about/newsletter>*
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