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From: Marvin Humphrey <marvin@rectangular.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 09:30:10 -0800
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Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] Apache Dataflow Incubator Proposal
To: "general@incubator.apache.org" <general@incubator.apache.org>
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On Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 3:30 PM, James Malone
<jamesmalone@google.com.invalid> wrote:
> If we need to rename, we would ideally choose a new name, change the
> project name at that time, and start our refactoring with that new name. Is
> is acceptable for us to flag a name change as something we need to do as a
> near-term (1st month) item in incubation (if accepted)? If a rename is
> required I'd like to add it to our to-do roadmap but also not block our
> proposal on a renaming. I ask so we can address this concern in the best
> way possible.

That's acceptable.  Project naming issues do not block entry into the
Incubator, they block graduation from the Incubator.

Because "dataflow" is descriptive, it will be hard to defend as
a trademark.  The Wikipedia article on trademark distinctiveness explains
things well:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_distinctiveness

A weak mark both increases the amount of volunteer effort that goes
into dealing with infringement cases and makes bad outcomes more likely.
It is not an absolute requirement that Apache projects have defensible names,
but painful past experience has taught us that mishandled branding can deal
surprising amounts of damage to a project community.

But beyond that, the issue of "Google Cloud Dataflow" vs. "Apache Dataflow" is
a blocker.  One or the other will have to be renamed, and since the software
is being donated but apparently not the brand, it sounds like renaming the
prospective Apache project will be required and you should add that task to
your roadmap.

Changing names in the middle of incubation is disruptive because it requires
renaming infrastructure resources, impacting both the Apache Infrastructure
team and also the podling's developer and user communities.  My suggestion
would be that immediately after the VOTE to enter incubation concludes, you
only create a dev mailing list and deal with the renaming immediately,
delaying the creation of other resources until after the renaming is resolved.
However, the exact plan is something you can work out with your Mentors.

Marvin Humphrey

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