Help defend GNOME against Groupon [success!]

[xenopeek]

Update: GNOME Foundation and Groupon just made a shared announcement that Groupon has agreed to change its product's name: http://www.gnome.org/news/2014/11/group ... duct-name/

GNOME has been a familiar name in software for the past 17 years, and a registered trademark since 2006. Cinnamon and MATE are both based on GNOME, and use software components from the GNOME project.

Recently Groupon announced a proprietary software product with the same name; a tablet based point of sale operating system. Groupon has refused to rename their confusingly named product despite it being a registered trademark, and has filed multiple trademark registrations of its own to take the GNOME name. Confusing all the more because Groupon depends heavily on free software for its business.

As Lucas Nussbaum puts it, Debian's Project Leader:

This legal defense is not just about protecting GNOME's trademark; it is about asserting to the corporate world that FLOSS trademarks can and will be guarded. Not just by the project in question, but by the community as a whole. As a result, all FLOSS trademarks will be strengthened at once.

If you can, help raise the funds to fight back and most of all call public attention to this terrible behavior by Groupon.

Read more on the GNOME Foundation's page: https://gnome.org/groupon/

[Pierre]

it's already being widely promoted across Social Media


it remains to be seen - just how many give some $$$ to it , though.

[xenopeek]

Well, I've donated if that was your question It's indeed spreading through the social web.

[Crewp]

If's it's any consolation there tablet called Gnome is not doing well at all, serve's them right for stealing the name.

[killer de bug]

I have just made a donation. Let's kick them in the ass...

[killer de bug]

it remains to be seen - just how many give some $$$ to it , though.

Not bad for now:

So far, we have raised 68626.93 USD. We would like to thank our donors for their generous support.

[xenopeek]

Wow, that's going fast. Awesome to see this level of support for Gnome from the community!

[GeneC]

Seems like a bit of an overreaction by social media (as ususal)...

https://engineering.groupon.com/2014/mi ... uct-names/

Groupon Engineering Blog

November 11th, 2014

There is some recent confusion around Groupon’s intended use of a product name that the Gnome Foundation believes infringes on their trademarks.

We love open source at Groupon. We have open sourced a number of projects on Groupon github. Our relationship with the open source community is more important to us than a product name. We’ve been communicating with the Gnome Foundation for months to try to come to a mutually satisfactory resolution, including alternative branding options, and we’re happy to continue those conversations. And if we can’t come up with a resolution, we’ll be glad to look for another name.

We will continue to have an open line of communication with the Gnome Foundation until this matter is resolved.

UPDATE: After additional conversations with the open source community and the Gnome Foundation, we have decided to abandon our pending trademark applications for “Gnome.” We will choose a new name for our product going forward

[killer de bug]

Seems like a bit of an overreaction by social media (as ususal)...

Or maybe it's because the community has reacted in such a hard manner that Groupon decided today to let it go. They were doing this since weeks... So obviously they knew what they were doing and they had already been discussing this a lot.
So why did they let it go only today, when they have seen the community going to sue them? They knew they were going to lose a lot and decided to stop today. Community power.

I'm glad I gave to Gnome. I'm glad they just got 70k€ to develop their projects (that I use...).

[GeneC]

.....
Or maybe it's because the community has reacted in such a hard manner that Groupon decided today to let it go. ......

Could very well be..

[xenopeek]

From the history I take it the GNOME Foundation has been trying to resolve this amicably since mid this year. With no resolution in sight, and just 3 weeks left on the deadline to file formal proceedings to oppose the first 10 trademark registrations, I think it was a right call by the GNOME Foundation to mobilize the community now. Indeed seems to have effected a change in how Groupon was handling this.

[killer de bug]

From the history I take it the GNOME Foundation has been trying to resolve this amicably since mid this year.

Yes that is right. Obviously the trademarks were deposited at the beginning of 2014 by Groupon...
Gnome had no other choice, they took a decision and we will see if it's a good one or not.

[xenopeek]

GNOME Foundation and Groupon just made a shared announcement that Groupon has agreed to change its product's name: http://www.gnome.org/news/2014/11/group ... duct-name/

[var]

I'll still avoid Groupon like the plague.

[killer de bug]

At least we know that people love Gnome:

So far, we have raised 87693.47 USD. We would like to thank our donors for their generous suppor

[altair4]

It's possible that Groupon forgot who "owns" Gnome - Google, IBM, Intel, RedHat, ....

[killer de bug]

A little bit more than 24 hours and already 100k$...

[killer de bug]

This matter is resolved! Thank you for all the support that you have given us! The response to this campaign was overwhelming, with 5622 individuals contributing USD 102,608.76 to help the GNOME Foundation defend its trademark. As a result of the campaign, Groupon decided to abandon all of their 28 pending trademark applications and will proceed with a name change for their product. We could not have done this without your help!

GNOME is humbled by the support we have received from the community and we are excited that the money raised can now be spent on making GNOME better. We look forward to reporting back to you on all the great things this will enable us to do!

If you would like to support GNOME further, you can become a Friend of GNOME!

http://www.gnome.org/groupon/

If only Linux Mint could earn money so fast

[xenopeek]

GNOME Foundation's Tobias Mueller gives a nice summary of how the call for help went: http://blogs.gnome.org/muelli/2014/11/o ... d-groupon/

[lewtwo]

.....
Or maybe it's because the community has reacted in such a hard manner that Groupon decided today to let it go. ......

Could very well be..

Corporate ethics are always spelled with dollars signs.
Nothing else matters.