4 ms·

Hashicorp has a registered trademark on software named Consul[1] and started working on it in late 2013[2]. This is not a good name for software if it is alrea

by SEJeff 8y ago

Hashicorp has a registered trademark on software named Consul[1] and started working on it in late 2013[2]. This is not a good name for software if it is already trademarked and was started before this project (by ~2 years). [1] http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:z7nwph.3.15 http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:z7n... [2] https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/commit/0a7996bc4f504894dbd09bac349a2d9999ec9dd6 https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/commit/0a7996bc4f504894d...

stusmall 8y ago
It looks like they are pretty aware of it too. There are a few issues in their tracker meant for hashicorp's consul and they directed them over to the right github project.
- SEJeff 8y ago
  Mitchell and Armon are good people and I'd expect them to act in good faith as this isn't competition, but it is still bad form for someone to do this. In some cases it can result in the original trademark holder losing their trademark. The entire system sucks.
  - stusmall 8y ago
    Oh, I'm not at all saying they are acting in bad faith! I was just elaborating the information you brought up, that's all.
nikolay 8y ago
Well, there's Dove, the chocolate, and Dove, the soap. I don't think intelligent people will get confused at eat the soap or try to wash their hands with the chocolate. Let's not blow things out of proportions and comment on any name collision as something bad! Software projects come and go and Consul.io is not something that, in my view, will last forever.
- SEJeff 8y ago
  Yes those are totally different. You can have a trademark of the same name for different things in different industries. This is allowable under USPTO guidance. However, these are both software, so your scenario isn't really comparable. Let's compare: https://github.com/consul/consul https://github.com/consul/consul - 83 watchers, 758 stars, 486 forks https://github.com/hashicorp/consul https://github.com/hashicorp/consul - 843 watchers, 14,686 stars, 2,548 forks If any of those two is not going to last forever, it is this the one with a smaller community.
  - nikolay 8y ago
    Yeah, but this is the situation now. If stars had an expiry, things could look quite different today.
TkTech 8y ago
I agree that it's unfortunate they didn't pick a more unique name, but why would the government of Madrid (the developers of Consul) care about a US trademark? Hashicorp Consul has an EU trademark[1] but they only applied in late 2018. I imagine Hashicorp Consule wasn't as well known in 2015 when the Consul project was started. Is it really expected for a Spanish developer to double check his name is A-OK with America? [1] https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/017930385 https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/01793038...

by SEJeff 8y ago

stusmall 8y ago

It looks like they are pretty aware of it too. There are a few issues in their tracker meant for hashicorp's consul and they directed them over to the right github project.

SEJeff 8y ago
Mitchell and Armon are good people and I'd expect them to act in good faith as this isn't competition, but it is still bad form for someone to do this. In some cases it can result in the original trademark holder losing their trademark. The entire system sucks.
- stusmall 8y ago
  Oh, I'm not at all saying they are acting in bad faith! I was just elaborating the information you brought up, that's all.

nikolay 8y ago

Well, there's Dove, the chocolate, and Dove, the soap. I don't think intelligent people will get confused at eat the soap or try to wash their hands with the chocolate. Let's not blow things out of proportions and comment on any name collision as something bad! Software projects come and go and Consul.io is not something that, in my view, will last forever.

SEJeff 8y ago
Yes those are totally different. You can have a trademark of the same name for different things in different industries. This is allowable under USPTO guidance. However, these are both software, so your scenario isn't really comparable. Let's compare: https://github.com/consul/consul https://github.com/consul/consul - 83 watchers, 758 stars, 486 forks https://github.com/hashicorp/consul https://github.com/hashicorp/consul - 843 watchers, 14,686 stars, 2,548 forks If any of those two is not going to last forever, it is this the one with a smaller community.
- nikolay 8y ago
  Yeah, but this is the situation now. If stars had an expiry, things could look quite different today.

TkTech 8y ago

I agree that it's unfortunate they didn't pick a more unique name, but why would the government of Madrid (the developers of Consul) care about a US trademark? Hashicorp Consul has an EU trademark[1] but they only applied in late 2018. I imagine Hashicorp Consule wasn't as well known in 2015 when the Consul project was started. Is it really expected for a Spanish developer to double check his name is A-OK with America? [1] https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/017930385 https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/01793038...