This document, the "Policy," outlines the karaloop project's (the "Project") policy for the use of its trademarks. While the Project uses open source licenses, the copyright license does not include an implied right or license to use its trademarks.
The role of trademarks is to provide assurance about the origin of the products or services with which the trademark is associated, enabling the public to identify the entity from which the goods or services "come from", but because an open source license allows your unrestricted modification of the copyrighted materials (the "Materials", e.g. illustrations, source files, code, designs, schematics, documentation), we cannot be sure that your modifications to the Project's Materials are ones that will not be misleading if distributed under the same name. Instead, this Policy describes the circumstances under which you may use the Project's trademarks.
Through this Policy we are not trying to limit the lawful use of the Project's trademarks, but rather describe for you what we consider the parameters of lawful use to be. Trademark law can be ambiguous, so we hope to provide enough clarity for you to understand whether or not we will consider your use licensed or non-infringing.
The sections that follow describe what trademarks are covered by this Policy, as well as uses of the trademarks that are allowed without additional permission. If you want to use the Project's trademarks in ways that are not described in this Policy, please send an email to karaloop@protonmail.com with Trademark Use in the subject. We are reasonable and can work almost anything out provided we get a request in advance. Any use that does not comply with this Policy or for which we have not separately provided written permission is not a use that we have approved, so you must decide for yourself whether the use is nevertheless lawful.
We want to encourage and facilitate the use of our trademarks by the community, but do so in a way that still ensures that the trademarks are meaningful as a source and quality indicator for our Materials and the associated goods and services and continue to embody the high reputation of the Materials and the community associated with it. This Policy therefore tries to strike the proper balance between: 1) our need to ensure that the Project's trademarks remain reliable indicators of the qualities that they are meant to preserve and 2) our community members' desire to be full participants in the Project.
This policy covers:
- The Project's registered word trademarks and service marks (the "Word Marks"): "KARALOOP" (whether or not in capital letters)
- The registered logo (the "Logo"):
- And the unique visual styling of our online media and packaging (the "Trade Dress").
This Policy encompasses all trademarks and service marks, whether Word Marks, Logos or Trade Dress, which are collectively referred to as the “Marks.” Some Marks may not be registered, but registration does not equal ownership of trademarks. This Policy covers our Marks whether they are registered or not.
Whenever you use one of the Marks, you must always do so in a way that does not mislead anyone, either directly or by omission, about exactly what they are getting and from whom. The law reflects this requirement in two major ways described in more detail below: it prohibits creating a "likelihood of confusion" but allows for "nominative use." For example, you cannot say you are distributing karaloop Materials when you're distributing a modified version of them, because people would be confused when they are not getting the same features and functionality they would get if they downloaded the Materials directly from us. You also cannot use our logo on your website in a way that suggests that your website is an official website or that we endorse your website. You can, though, say you like the karaloop project, that you participate in the karaloop community, that you are providing an unmodified version of karaloop Materials, or that you wrote a book describing how to make a karaloop prototype.
This fundamental requirement, that it is always clear to people what they are getting and from whom, is reflected throughout this Policy. It should also serve as your guide if you are not sure about how you are using the Marks.
In addition, for a correct use of the Project's Marks and to avoid any misuse, the below conditions are compulsory:
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You may not use the Marks in association with the use or distribution of the karaloop Materials if you are also not in compliance with their copyright license.
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You may not use or register, in whole or in part, the Marks as part of your own trademark, service mark, domain name, company name, trade name, product name or service name. You should never incorporate our Marks into your company's logos or designs, or in any other material, irrespective of its support, online or offline (i.e. on posters, brochures, magazines, newsletters, websites, or other marketing materials to promote your events, products or services) without our prior written consent.
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You may not use any similar sign or denomination in any way that could give rise to confusion or association with our Marks. For the avoidance of doubt, you may not use any variation of any of our Marks or any phonetic equivalent, foreign language equivalent, take-off, or any sign that replicates the “look and feel” of our Marks. By way of example, we would consider the following denomination too similar to one of our Marks: "Any mark ending with the letters KARALOOP or CARALUP" and "Any mark beginning with the letters KARALOOP or CARALUP". We are not bound by these examples, they are only provided for clarity.
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You may not use the Mark:
- as a verb or noun (instead it should be used only as an adjective followed by the generic name/noun),
- in its plural or possessive form
- as an abbreviation or a similar or compatible form
- combined with any other mark
- more prominently than the name of your own company, product or service.
- in a way aimed to show false advertising, misleading information/ promotional materials, etc.).
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You agree that you will not acquire any rights in the Marks and that any goodwill generated by your use of the Marks inures solely to our benefit.
We reserve all rights to act against any infringing acts, either resulting from the violation of the Policy terms as mentioned above or from the rights stipulated by the provisions of the Trademark Law, and to bring such infringing acts to the attention of the competent legal bodies in order to restore our rights and seek compensation for any damages.
The first or most prominent mention of a Mark on a webpage, document, packaging, or documentation should be accompanied by a symbol indicating whether the mark is a registered trademark ("®") or an unregistered trademark ("™"). See our Trademark List for the correct symbol to use.
If you are aware of any confusing use or misuse of the Marks in any way, we would appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Please contact us as described below so that we can investigate it further.
If you have any questions about this Policy, would like to speak with us about the use of our Marks in ways not described in the Policy, or see any abuse of our Marks, please email us to karaloop@protonmail.com with Trademark Use in the subject.
These guidelines are based on the Model Trademark Guidelines, available at http://www.modeltrademarkguidelines.org., used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US