register logos as trademarks

[avallecam]

Is it expected to have logos registered trademarks?

From Carpentries, logos are registered with Community Initiatives

https://github.com/carpentries/workbench-template-rmd/blob/bd0961d1ec035b0a4b968dca5e393a91297f7c93/LICENSE.md?plain=1#L68-L74

[chartgerink]

I am not the authority on this for Epiverse, but have some experience with trademarks overall that might help inform the discussion.

First off, trademarking is a defensive measure - they allow you to prevent people from using the registered trademark in a way that harms your brand. They do not allow you to control the use of the brand if it's not harmful.

Secondly, trademarking requires an entity who would want to do that. In this case, I would suspect data.org would be the most logical entity (given they are on the websites, not because I am employed by them :-)). I do not know whether that's something they would want, as it is also a philosophical consideration.

Thirdly, trademarks require active monitoring to be enforcable. In the scenario where Epiverse is trademarked, and something harmful comes along, but it takes years and years to let them know it was trademarked by us, this may invalidate the trademark. It is additional work in that sense.

Registering each logo separately is probably a bit much, but registering Epiverse could be an option. I would personally be against it (I don't think it'll do the project any good, and the effort put in is then a waste) - nonetheless, thanks for raising the point @avallecam!

[avallecam]

Thank you @chartgerink for the context! My question came from a direct comparison with other institution LICENSE file but not from an understanding of the topic, so it was nice to read the rationale for making the decision.

[chartgerink]

Closing this issue as this has been open for a while and not resulted in much discussion. If relevant at a later time, it can be reopened.