[dpl-helpers] Fwd: Trademark Use Request

[Brian Gupta]

The holders of debian.rs (Serbia) sent a "use request" to the Debian
Trademark front desk. We have a policy to not approve debian.*
domains, and generally require them to be held by TOs.

After writing to indicate as such, they indicated a tentative
willingness to transfer the domain to a Debian TO. (Seems SPI is the
one they are interested in.)

What would be the next steps?

Thanks,
Brian

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chex <chex at debian.rs>
Date: Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 5:43 AM
Subject: Re: Trademark Use Request
To: Brian Gupta <brian.gupta at brandorr.com>
Cc: trademark at debian.org


On 06/08/2013 01:26 PM, Brian Gupta wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 8:00 AM, chex<chex at debian.rs>  wrote:
>>
>> Name:    Nikola Orlov
>>
>> Project: debian.rs
>>
>> Purpose: non-commercial
>>
>> Nature of Use: domain name (and website)
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> The domain (debian.rs) is recently registered and used for a website whose
>> purpose will be to provide technical help with using Debian in various
>> (server and desktop) environments, in Serbian and possibly English language.
>> The site will be presented in article form and it's articles' content will
>> be "licensed" under the copyheart license or lack thereof.
>> If the interest and, thus, the technical resource requirements for the site
>> grow enough, donation and/or advertising functionality might be added to
>> support the hosting costs. This will happen only in the event that adequate
>> sponsorship from a local organisation or business doesn't happen.
>>
>> Note that the website explicitly states that it is not an official
>> representation of, or officially endorsed by the Debian project. The
>> disclaimer of this non-affiliation and the trademark ownership will be
>> included on every page in the final website design.
>>
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Nikola Orlov
>>
> Hi Nikola,
>
> Thank you for your efforts to promote Debian in Serbia.
>
> At this time we have a policy for having top level Debian domains have
> ownership assigned to Debian Trusted Organizations, such as SPI or
> FFIS, as experience tells us that individuals might lose interest in
> the long run (e.g. years from now). If/when that happens, having an
> independent organization trusted by Debian as domain owner would make
> things much simpler for us.
>
> In addition, having Debian.* domains registered and held by third party
> entities damages our rights to protect the trademark, and we have been
> advised by our attorney, to not allow these uses.
>
> Your request for use of the Debian trademark has been recorded. We
> regret to inform you that such usage as requested by you cannot be
> permitted as it will lead to confusion in the minds of consumers and
> dilution of our trademark.
>
> At this point we ask that you consider working with one of our existing
> Trusted Organizations. [1]
>
> That said, we are excited to hear that you are working to build a
> local Debian organization, and invite you to use the Debian wiki to
> coordinate your efforts, such as a number of teams have done, like
> DebianIndia. [2] In addition, you can add your group to the
> comprehensive list [3].
>
> Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
>
> -Debian Trademark Team
>
> [1] -http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Auditor/Organizations
> [2] -http://wiki.debian.org/DebianIndia
> [3] -http://wiki.debian.org/LocalGroups


Dear Brian,

Thanks for the reply.
First, I apologize for the late answer, I was away and had very
limited connectivity.

I will be glad to work with one of your TOs, and in the case of this
domain name, I am speculating it means I should make a domain transfer
to them. This is definitely the best option in my opinion since it
also solves other unrelated issues like the question of "the right to
own this domain" within the local community.
I have a few questions though:
Is the domain transfer something the Debian project is even interested
in, or have I misinterpreted your email?
If it is, who should I talk to concerning the administrative part of
the transfer?
I see that SPI is offering this service as "Holding Intangible Assets"
(http://www.spi-inc.org/projects/services), but it offers it to the
"Associated project" itself, which means that the transfer should
first be in name of the Debian project and then it can be transfered
to SPI unless some letter of approval is sent so that I could directly
contact SPI.

Regards,
Nikola Orlov