I gather that what you want to achieve is preservation of the 'name' 'OpenOffice.org' as a trademark and as an identifier.  Eventually people will know that the Apache product is derived from the old openoffice.org software but the need to protect the old trademark will persist. I am hesitant to say that the Apache product is the software formerly known as openoffice.org because LibreOffice can also make that claim.  I gather that LibreOffice folk regard the Apache product as another fork of OpenOffice.org.  I'm not certain of the history but I understand that LibreOffice is the former go-oo but that was a fork of oo.o anyway. What about a statement along the lines "openoffice.org and Apache Open Office[/Office/Suite] are {registered ?} trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation which produces Apache Open Office {derived from oo.o} ?"  Something like that could be used as a subtitle. Terry ----- Original Message ----- > From: Rob Weir > To: ooo-marketing@incubator.apache.org > Cc: > Sent: Wednesday, 2 November 2011 10:37 PM > Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] Product Branding > > On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 6:12 PM, Terry > wrote: >> I agree that ownership of the 'OpenOffice.org' brand should be > preserved; allowing someone else to use it would create confusion. >> > > It is possible to have several trademarks in use at the same time. > You see that in complex branding strategies for consumer products, > where image is very important.  For example, the Coca Cola corporation > protects "Coca Cola" (of course) but also "Coke" and several > slogans like "Can't beat the real thing" and "I'd like to buy the > world a Coke".  I assume the corporation has complex internal rules that > determine how advertisers use use each name in the proper context. > > Would something like this make sense for OpenOffice?  Is there a way > to rationalize the use of both names?  Or would that cause confusion > among our own users? > > "Apache OpenOffice for your organization:  OpenOffice.org" > > -Rob > >>> >>> >>> My one concern with this name is its effect on the existing >>> OpenOffice.org trademark registration.  If we call ourselves >>> "Apache OpenOffice" and never as "OpenOffice.org" what happens >>> to the >>> existing trademark?  Is it considered abandoned?  Can anyone then use >>> it?  Can we prevent someone from causing confusion by adopting that name for a >>> similar product? >>> >>> To put it in perspective, when Oracle announced that it was >>> contributing OOo to Apache, within a week a company attempted to >>> register the trademark "OpenOffice" in the US.  The value of our brand >>> is significant enough to attract scams. >>> >>> Considering the past abuse that has been attempted against this brand, >>> and the likely future repetitions of the same, I think that it is >>> critical that we have some way to protect ourselves and our users >>> against confusing misuse of the names OpenOffice, OpenOffice.org, Open >>> Office, etc., in the usual variations. >>> >>> For example,  would Apache actually register "Apache OpenOffice" as a >>> US trademark? >>> >>> So in summary, I like the shorter name "Apache OpenOffice" better than >>> "Apache OpenOffice.org".  But I just want to make sure we don't >>> lose the effective benefits and priority of the existing OpenOffice.org >>> trademark registration. >>> >>> -Rob >>> >