I don't think it is a sudden change. The Rust Foundation was established early 2021. One of the reasons for its creation is to hold/manage the trademarks/IP, in

I don't think it is a sudden change. The Rust Foundation was established early 2021. One of the reasons for its creation is to hold/manage the trademarks/IP, in a similar arrangement to other substantial free software projects. Clarifying and rewriting the trademark policy has been one of the specific goals of the foundation for some time (if not the whole time). It wasn't a secret project. For example, in August 2022 they solicited feedback[0] from the community regarding the revision of the trademark policy. [0] https://foundation.rust-lang.org/news/2022-08-09-trademark-policy-review-and-survey/ https://foundation.rust-lang.org/news/2022-08-09-trademark-p...