Koha trademarks around the world
Hi all, George and I have been discussing the issue of Koha trademarks. We know that Koha has been registered in the USA by Liblime, and that the EU registration is being signed over to HLT, but what about the rest of world? Koha is a global phenomenon; should we be thinking about Koha in Asia, Africa, Latin America etc. Has it been registered anywhere else? What is stop any ratbag vendor setting up anywhere in the world from registering Koha in the same way that Liblime and Biblibre did? How do we find out, is it important and should we care? Cheers Jo.
On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 9:20 PM, Joann Ransom <jransom@library.org.nz> wrote:
Hi all,
George and I have been discussing the issue of Koha trademarks. We know that Koha has been registered in the USA by Liblime, and that the EU registration is being signed over to HLT, but what about the rest of world? Koha is a global phenomenon; should we be thinking about Koha in Asia, Africa, Latin America etc. Has it been registered anywhere else? What is stop any ratbag vendor setting up anywhere in the world from registering Koha in the same way that Liblime and Biblibre did?
It seems to me that this would at least warrant doing some research into. Kind Regards, Chris
Jo I agree this is something to start looking into - but in the long run I believe lawyers will be needed. World Intellectual Property Organization - might be a place to start and I see that NZ is partnered with them through http://www.iponz.govt.nz/cms - the Intellectual Property Office - in NZ which as it may is located in Wellington!!! thd had lawyerly contacts so if you haven't talked with him you may want to make contact. Thanks and good thought! We may get stuck on the US thing until we know what the owner in the US is going to do .... but it doesn't hurt to investigate for the rest of the world and cover the foundations assets. David Schuster Chris Nighswonger wrote:
On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 9:20 PM, Joann Ransom <jransom@library.org.nz> wrote:
Hi all,
George and I have been discussing the issue of Koha trademarks. We know that Koha has been registered in the USA by Liblime, and that the EU registration is being signed over to HLT, but what about the rest of world? Koha is a global phenomenon; should we be thinking about Koha in Asia, Africa, Latin America etc. Has it been registered anywhere else? What is stop any ratbag vendor setting up anywhere in the world from registering Koha in the same way that Liblime and Biblibre did?
It seems to me that this would at least warrant doing some research into.
Kind Regards, Chris _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
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Joann Ransom <jransom@library.org.nz>
George and I have been discussing the issue of Koha trademarks. We know that Koha has been registered in the USA by Liblime, and that the EU registration is being signed over to HLT, but what about the rest of world?
Last I checked, it's not an EU registration. It is merely an application for a Community Trade Mark. [...]
What is stop any ratbag vendor setting up anywhere in the world from registering Koha in the same way that Liblime and Biblibre did?
As I have discovered to my cost, the only thing that stops them is the application process and that is a slow and expensive thing. If Koha is not present in a market, why shouldn't someone else be able to use the name? Arguably, Koha is now worldwide, though. Hope that explains, -- MJ Ray (slef) Webmaster and LMS developer at | software www.software.coop http://mjr.towers.org.uk | .... co IMO only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html | .... op
participants (4)
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Chris Nighswonger -
David Schuster -
Joann Ransom -
MJ Ray