Open-Source Movements Bicker Over Logo 158
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by
samzenpus
from the you're-both-pretty dept.
from the you're-both-pretty dept.
colinneagle writes in with a story about open source organizations fighting over logos. "A gear logo proposed to represent and easily identify open-source hardware has caught the eyes of the The Open Source Initiative, which believes the logo infringes its trademark. The gear logo is backed by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), which was formally established earlier this year to promote hardware innovation and unite the fragmented community of hackers and do-it-yourselfers. The gear mark is now being increasingly used on boards and circuits to indicate that the hardware is open-source and designs can be openly shared and modified. OSI has now informed OSHWA, which is acting on behalf of the open-source hardware community, that the logo infringes on its trademark. The issue at stake is a keyhole at the bottom of the open-source hardware logo, which resembles a keyhole at the bottom of the OSI logo. The gear logo was created as part of the contest hosted by the group that founded OSHWA, and the mark was released by its designer under a Creative Commons license, opening it up for the community to use on hardware."
Re:What about Slashdot's usage? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The bane of Open Sores... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yup.
Shitty situation, but I can actually see OSIs point. If I saw the OSHWA logo without prior background I probably would assume it was some how tied to OSI due to the similarity, which kinda defeats the whole point of a trademark.
Also as I understand it, when it comes to trademarks if you don't make efforts to protect it, you lose it.
Hopefully they come to some kind of amicable agreement. I think both sides are reasonable enough that they can come up with some way to fix this without us reading about the ongoing court battle for the next 2 years.
Really? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Too similar (Score:4, Insightful)
Seconded.
Not only is the logo too similar, but frankly it sucks. To the uninitiated it looks like a broken gear. You can only imagine the jokes down the road whenever something doesn't work.
For all its merits, graphic design is one of those areas where the open source movement lacks serious talent.
Re:The most pathetic development in Open-Source (Score:3, Insightful)
It does look like they both come from the same firm or other collusion. This is not good, and I see why they are calling them out on this. It is not childish. What if an organization (such as Microsoft) founded an "open source" company and used a similar logo with the intent to obscure the original trademark. Logically, you simply cannot let ANYONE infringe--no matter who it is. They should have created some type of agreement. I agree that this is stupid, stupid on the part of OSHWA.
Re:Bickering? (Score:2, Insightful)
No, but it could look confuse people into thinking they are affiliated or a related company.
Re:The most pathetic development in Open-Source (Score:5, Insightful)
I sincerely hope that there are still some adults left in the OSI and it's time for the adults to lead the movement
Certainly more than there are in Slashdot.
If you made the effort to check the OSHWA site instead of the clickbait NetworkWorld beatup, you'd see there's no headbutting, just two teams working together to solve a mutual problem.
The OSHWA team have been offered a license to use the trademark, which would allow OSI to continue defending its mark as needed. Instead of the aggression implied by our sensationalist, error-ridden TFA, the reality is two groups of sensible people negotiating the best paths forward for both their communities.
This is truly ugly journalism. We should be discussing how crap like this is promoted to the frontpage of Slashdot, not pretending outrage at OSI and OSHWA.