[Koha] Koha trademarks around the world

[MJ Ray]

Joann Ransom <jransom at 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