Canonical does not represent it's own thoughts

[Kornknacker]

Hello @ all,

[K]UbuntuMail.de is a free german e-mail forwarding service for Ubuntu users. A few hours ago, we received an email from Canoncial:



Dear *,
Thank you for contacting us.
Unfortunately your project is in breach of our trademark policy and we cannot allow you to use Ubuntu in a domain name. The reason for this is that users could get confused over the nature of the relationship between your project and Ubuntu.
More information can be found on the following link: http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy

Kind regards,
***


our answer:



Dear Mrs. ***

thank you for the your answer.

Concerning on the discussion at https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-dk/2007-August/000502.html
we can't understand your decision.

We said that Ubuntu and Kubuntu are Trademarks of Canonical.
We said that this is a non commercial project only.
We didn't change your logo in any non allowed way.

We just wanted to give the great german community of Ubuntu something back, because we had supported the ideas behind Ubuntu.

It should humanly, but your company doesn't represent this thoughts we suggest.

Why do you allow for one project to use Ubuntu in a domain name and for another project you ban the usage?

Bastian and me cannot support the thoughts of Ubuntu anymore and we decided to tell our users and friends at our german forums what you wrote us, and will describe our feelings behind it.

For us, there is no reason to use Ubuntu and everything behind anymore. We are sad to leave a great community, but lucky to leave a company that does not represent it's own thoughts.

Sincerely
[K]UbuntuMail.de Support


What do you think about it?

[BoritoHood]

Hi

Canoical make some differences betwen users. Some Projects are Ok for it, other not. I speak about ubuntumail.de. This Comunity Project is not permitted by Canonical.


Dear *,
Thank you for contacting us.
Unfortunately your project is in breach of our trademark policy and we cannot allow you to use Ubuntu in a domain name. The reason for this is that users could get confused over the nature of the relationship between your project and Ubuntu.
More information can be found on the following link: http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy

Kind regards,
***

This is the E-Mail that the Admin of ubuntumail.de got.

ubuntu-jabber.de and a other side (dont know the name) are allowed .
What is the difference between this Sides? I dont Know.


> > > Hi Daniel,
> > >
> > > Thanks for your email.
> > >
> > > As long as the use of our trademark is for community advocacy and not
> > > for commercial gain, we are happy to give you permission to use it under
> > > the following conditions:
> > >
> > > (a) You observe the logo usage rules described on our website at:
> > > http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu/TrademarkPolicy ;
> > >
> > > (b) Somewhere on the product you recognise that Ubuntu is a trademark of
> > > Canonical Limited. T
> > >
> > > The logo usage rules basically boil down to "use the logo as is - don't
> > > change it" and I don't expect they should cause you any trouble.
> > >
> > > Best of luck with promoting Ubuntu in your city and we'd be happy to
> > > hear any success stories you'd like to share with us.
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > > Michelle

This Mail shows that Canonical permitted an other Project.

I find it not good. This is a good reason against Ubuntu

[hardyn]

cannonical's trademark, cannonicals call...

[justin whitaker]

The rules for using the trademark are pretty straight forward, and much clearer than most other companies.

If you are running an advocacy project, then you can use the branding and name so long as it is not changed.

If you are trying to use Ubuntu branding for your own gain...well, what company in the entire world would let you do that?

The project is open source, the trademark is a trademark.

[Seisen]

It is actually stated here that you would need a trademark license to use it in a domain name. You can find it under "Restricted use that requires a trademark license"

http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/trademarkpolicy

[denis_std]

From my point of view it is the wrong decision. Other non commerical projects got the permission so this decision doesn't reflect the humanity Ubuntu wants to transport.

[denis_std]

But other projects got the permission from Cannonical without paying anything...

[BoritoHood]

This is the point.

The one Project got a permission and the other not.

[justin whitaker]

But other projects got the permission from Cannonical without paying anything...

You can ask Canoncial for a Trademark license. I don't know if they make you pay or not, since I never tried to start a project based on someone else's Trademark. I'm sure that Canonical had their reasons for granting use of the ubuntu domain name....maybe it was just that they were asked nicely beforehand?

[PriceChild]

Canonical owns the trademarks to ubuntu and anything similar enough to be confused with ubuntu... e.g. kubuntu etc.

The policy above was agreed at a Community Council by the CC with the Ubuntu Members and other persons present (only a minority of Canonical). You could have raised your objections to the policy then.

I am closing this thread. This is your first post on the forums and you have registered solely to complain about this... Your problem is not with the ubuntuforums.org community but with Canonical and I would propose you deal with them, perhaps even contact the Ubuntu Community Council (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityCouncil) and get this matter solved calmly.

[Kvark]

Right now when you see "Ubuntu" you know it's a Linux distro. If all kinds of other projects started using that name then you'd have no idea what service/product a particular Ubuntu-project is about. The name would lose it's meaning. Source code can be shared but identity such as trademarks and reputations can't because if everyone used the same name the name becomes useless.

[PriceChild]

Please don't create any more threads on this, deal with Canonical.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3321585&postcount=5

[Perfect Storm]

Thread merged.