5 ms·

Very few non-corporate FOSS projects would have the funds to file a trademark, especially an international one considering one can be infringed from anywhere ar

by oefrha 5y ago

Very few non-corporate FOSS projects would have the funds to file a trademark, especially an international one considering one can be infringed from anywhere around the world. And time spent on filing would be time not advancing the actual project, unless a lawyer is hired, which makes it even more expensive. Even fewer would have the resources to actually pursue legal action if the trademark is infringed upon. This is probably not a realistic suggestion for all but a few hundred projects.

0xy 5y ago
It costs less than $2,500 to file trademarks in the US, EU and UK which is plenty of coverage. OBS has received hundreds of thousands in funding, from YouTube, Twitch and Facebook as well as smaller patrons. Maybe $5,000 if you're talking about high-touch legal help or the trademarks are dicey.
- oefrha 5y ago
  OBS is the #10 most popular project on Open Collective[1] (plus other donations), so yeah, it is one of the top-earning FOSS projects that can afford it. [1] https://opencollective.com/discover https://opencollective.com/discover
  - erk__ 5y ago
    Including $50,000 from the owners of Streamlabs, Logitech
    - Warchamp7 5y ago
      For what it's worth, Logitech made that contribution well before they bought Streamlabs
      - erk__ 5y ago
        Interesting it was transferred in May 2019 and they bought Streamlabs in September 2019. I had not seen that.
        dpatterbee 5y ago
        Perhaps they were confused about the association between projects as well.
      - skeeter2020 5y ago
        Maybe they too were confused and thought they were cutting a cheque to a subsidary, not a different OS project? ;)
  - iaxx 5y ago
    When StreamLabs came out with SLOBS, OBS didn't even have an OpenCollective or Patreon. They were still getting off the ground.
- cpuguy83 5y ago
  It costs significantly more to defend your trademark. Registering your trademark is pointless if you can't also defend it.
  - eloeffler 5y ago
    Doesn't it at least protect you from someone else registering it and then suing you?
    - foepys 5y ago
      Not really. Registering, yes, but you can sue anybody at any time. You might lose but it doesn't prevent you from suing. If you hold a trademark you are obligated to defend it. If you don't others can void it.
      - pdpi 5y ago
        > but you can sue anybody at any time This is enough of a problem that anti-SLAPP laws have been passed in several jurisdictions. Those laws only go so far, though (and you still need to mount a defence of some description)
- rolandog 5y ago
  $2,500 would be about the average monthly gross income of a person earning $15/hr. And in terms of expendable income, that's an order of magnitude away of what people can shell out.
ghaff 5y ago
IANAL. Trademarks don't need to be registered and many trademarks simply exist through active use. However, your second paragraph is the key one. While trademarks don't need to be registered (and, in any case, trademark registrations are mostly on a country by country basis) it's pretty much on you to spend the money to defend your trademark if you want to do so. No one's going to do it for you.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

by oefrha 5y ago

0xy 5y ago

It costs less than $2,500 to file trademarks in the US, EU and UK which is plenty of coverage. OBS has received hundreds of thousands in funding, from YouTube, Twitch and Facebook as well as smaller patrons. Maybe $5,000 if you're talking about high-touch legal help or the trademarks are dicey.

oefrha 5y ago
OBS is the #10 most popular project on Open Collective[1] (plus other donations), so yeah, it is one of the top-earning FOSS projects that can afford it. [1] https://opencollective.com/discover https://opencollective.com/discover
- erk__ 5y ago
  Including $50,000 from the owners of Streamlabs, Logitech
  - Warchamp7 5y ago
    For what it's worth, Logitech made that contribution well before they bought Streamlabs
    - erk__ 5y ago
      Interesting it was transferred in May 2019 and they bought Streamlabs in September 2019. I had not seen that.
      - dpatterbee 5y ago
        Perhaps they were confused about the association between projects as well.
    - skeeter2020 5y ago
      Maybe they too were confused and thought they were cutting a cheque to a subsidary, not a different OS project? ;)
- iaxx 5y ago
  When StreamLabs came out with SLOBS, OBS didn't even have an OpenCollective or Patreon. They were still getting off the ground.
cpuguy83 5y ago
It costs significantly more to defend your trademark. Registering your trademark is pointless if you can't also defend it.
- eloeffler 5y ago
  Doesn't it at least protect you from someone else registering it and then suing you?
  - foepys 5y ago
    Not really. Registering, yes, but you can sue anybody at any time. You might lose but it doesn't prevent you from suing. If you hold a trademark you are obligated to defend it. If you don't others can void it.
    - pdpi 5y ago
      > but you can sue anybody at any time This is enough of a problem that anti-SLAPP laws have been passed in several jurisdictions. Those laws only go so far, though (and you still need to mount a defence of some description)
rolandog 5y ago
$2,500 would be about the average monthly gross income of a person earning $15/hr. And in terms of expendable income, that's an order of magnitude away of what people can shell out.

ghaff 5y ago

IANAL. Trademarks don't need to be registered and many trademarks simply exist through active use. However, your second paragraph is the key one. While trademarks don't need to be registered (and, in any case, trademark registrations are mostly on a country by country basis) it's pretty much on you to spend the money to defend your trademark if you want to do so. No one's going to do it for you.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]