International Law

Is the DataPortability logo cursed?

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington reports that the DataPortability Workgroup is once again having legal problems over its logo:

The DataPortability Workgroup ... now faces its second legal challenge to, of all things, its choice of logo.

In February, Red Hat sent a cease and desist letter claiming trademark infringement over their Fedora logo. Instead of fighting Red Hat in court, DataPortability simply held a new logo competition and announced the winner last week.

With that behind them, the group has been focused on drafting technical best practices guideline and getting community feedback.

Today, though, the new logo has been challenged as well - this time by Vivendi Mobile Entertainment?s trademark agent, who claims to be ?very surprised to notice your new logo for Dataportability which is very close and similar to their logo.? They add:

The mere comparison of the two signs is self-explanatory and we are sure that you will understand that our clients could not leave you to use such a logo in relation to identical of at least similar services.

Vivendi is using their mark in connection with a service called ZAOZA, a self-described ?simple and fun architecture that permits the legal peer sharing of exclusive and quality content.? They are demanding that DataPortability immediately stop using the logo.

Dataportability co-founder Chris Saad says they aren?t going to fight this challenge, either, because it?s too distracting to their core mission:

We?re going to speak with our lawyers, tweak it slightly and move on. These C&D tactics are really disappointing and counterproductive? We?d really rather everyone focused on the Technical Best Practice Drafts we released last week.

Read more here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on April 30, 2008 (boomark / email).