[tdwg-tag] namespaces

[Bob Morris]

The National Audubon Society has registered "Audubon" as trademark for
a number of goods and services. There is not presently any
registration for "Audubon Core".  AFAIK, it is not trademark
infringement if there is no confusion over the usage. Also, I have the
impression that it is impossible to trademark the name of a human
except for specific uses.  For example, one of NAS's trademark on
"Audubon" is for clothing. One would have to look over all their
trademarks to see if any of them are for use in the name of data
standards.

I suppose that marketing confusion is possible, though I never heard
any tales that the city of Dublin, Ohio, ever complained about the
Dublin Core, even though that is the referent of "Dublin" in Dublin
Core.

I wouldn't be surprised  if The National Audubon Society tries to
bully small organizations into not using "Audubon" though.

Really, if TDWG wants to grow up about marketing, it would have an IPR
lawyer to ask about these matters, since opinions of scientists
(including those I express) often have little connection to the actual
laws.  Or, maybe TDWG does already have such a lawyer to consult.





On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 12:49 PM, Steve Baskauf
<steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu> wrote:
> Not to throw cold water on a cute idea, but would it be good to consider
> possible confusion/trademark issues with the National Audubon Society, which
> is generically known as "Audubon"?
> Steve
>
> Bob Morris wrote:
>
> Much as I would love to be the convenor of mrmd, I must concede that
> Audubon Core has way more marketability.
>
> Two issues then arise: 1. An acronym for use in name spaces and
> communication; 2. the need(?) for a word to replace "core" in
> describing the most important terms in the proposed standard, and
> which are the ones we suggest are the minimal set that implementers of
> consuming software should be prepared to handle gracefully. Audubon
> Core Core sounds silly and confusing to me.
>
> As to 1., I somewhat favor some form of adbn. Or if we must end it in
> "c" and can't tolerate adbnc, then maybe adnc (resp. AdnC).
>
> As to 2, I have no suggestion
>
> On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 9:49 AM, Gregor Hagedorn <g.m.hagedorn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> Audubon Core.
>
> (and the abbreviation could be AC)
>
> Gregor
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
> Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences
>
> postal mail address:
> VU Station B 351634
> Nashville, TN  37235-1634,  U.S.A.
>
> delivery address:
> 2125 Stevenson Center
> 1161 21st Ave., S.
> Nashville, TN 37235
>
> office: 2128 Stevenson Center
> phone: (615) 343-4582,  fax: (615) 343-6707
> http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
>



-- 
Robert A. Morris
Emeritus Professor  of Computer Science
UMASS-Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125-3390
Associate, Harvard University Herbaria
email: morris.bob at gmail.com
web: http://bdei.cs.umb.edu/
web: http://etaxonomy.org/mw/FilteredPush
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ram
phone (+1) 857 222 7992 (mobile)