Python trademark under attack -- the PSF needs your help

[Giles Coochey]

On 15/02/2013 14:04, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Giles Coochey wrote:
>
> [...]
>>> If you have documentation of European user groups, trade associations,
>>> books, conferences, scans of job advertisements for Python programmers,
>>> software that uses some variation of "Python" in the name, etc. your
>>> evidence will be helpful in defeating this attempted grab of the Python
>>> name.
>>>
>> Err...
>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=python
>>
>> One would think that is enough.
> Giles, thank you for taking the time to respond, but I'm sorry to say that I
> don't think your response is helpful. Unless you are a trademark lawyer,
> your intuition about how trivially easy this will be is probably not going
> to be accurate.
>
> You would probably think it was presumptuous for a trademark lawyer to
> venture an opinion on how easy it is to write some piece of software. The
> same applies in reverse. We need to listen to the experts in European
> trademark law, those who know what sort of evidence the European Trademark
> Office consider meaningful and significant. These people have told the
> Python Software Foundation what needs to be done to fight this trademark
> application, and trust me, "spend two seconds doing a search on Amazon" is
> *not* it.
>
> Dismissing the trademark grab as:
>
>> Surely and open/shut case.
> is the simplest way to ensure that the PSF loses their appeal and the right
> to the name "Python" in Europe.
>
> If anyone has the sort of documentary evidence which the PSF has requested,
> and can scan and email them to the PSF, that will be helpful. If anyone is
> willing and able to donate money to the foundation to help with the legal
> expenses, estimated at tens of thousands of dollars, to challenge this
> trademark application, that will also be helpful. If you have a blog,
> please consider spreading the word.
>
> The PSF needs all the help it can get, but it needs to be the sort of help
> set out here:
>
> http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2013/02/python-trademark-at-risk-in-europe-we.html
>
> If anyone is thinking of doing something trivially easy which anyone can do,
> such as googling "python", trust me, the PSF has already done it. The PSF
> is looking for the sort of help that they can't get by typing into a search
> engine. If anyone can help, that's great. If you can't help, then please
> don't discourage those who can by claiming this is trivial.
>
> Thank you.
>
>
In order to register "Python" in Europe it has to be deemed registrable 
by OHIM.

It is clearly not registrable as there is substantial prior use.

-- 
Regards,

Giles Coochey, CCNA, CCNAS
NetSecSpec Ltd
+44 (0) 7983 877438
http://www.coochey.net
http://www.netsecspec.co.uk
giles at coochey.net


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