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mrwyz commented on WP Engine sent “cease and desist” letter to Automattic   twitter.com/wpengine/stat... · Posted by u/kevmarsden
echoangle · a year ago
Well I’ll be ready to watch the lawsuit for trademark infringement then. Except there won’t be one because there’s no chance that’s trademark infringement. All the statements on the website of WP engine (as I currently see it of course) don’t imply any affiliation with the Wordpress trademark owners and are pretty factual. Do you have some more explicit reasoning for statements on the website that you find infringing?
mrwyz · a year ago
Exhibit B, C: https://automattic.com/2024/09/25/open-source-trademarks-wp-...

Put some money on those 0% odds.

mrwyz commented on WP Engine sent “cease and desist” letter to Automattic   twitter.com/wpengine/stat... · Posted by u/kevmarsden
echoangle · a year ago
Do you want to explain how it does work? And what exactly that I said is wrong?

Here’s the Wikipedia article on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_use

mrwyz · a year ago
The law is not black-and-white. Absolutes like "Everyone can use your Trademark to identify the thing" don't fit in this context. Your reliance on Wikipedia to summarize a doctrine further demonstrates you don't have a firm grasp on the subject. Of course none on HN should listen to legal interpretations (including mine) because it's often not that simple. You can get a glimpse of the issue by reading this commentary from the American Bar: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law...

I think (and that's my opinion) that a jury would see that what wpengine is doing is not fair use and that their offering is creating confusion among consumers, but that's not for me (or you, or anyone else here on HN) to decide.

mrwyz commented on WP Engine sent “cease and desist” letter to Automattic   twitter.com/wpengine/stat... · Posted by u/kevmarsden
echoangle · a year ago
You can't prevent someone from using your Trademark as a description with your trademark policy. Everyone can use your Trademark to identify the thing, they don't need your permission. I could call myself the best Linux admin ever and the Linux Mark Institute can do nothing.
mrwyz · a year ago
That's not how U.S. trademark law works.
mrwyz commented on WP Engine sent “cease and desist” letter to Automattic   twitter.com/wpengine/stat... · Posted by u/kevmarsden
jmull · a year ago
The policy says,

...a business related to WordPress themes can describe itself as “XYZ Themes, the world’s best WordPress themes,” but cannot call itself “The WordPress Theme Portal.”

It sounds like "[the] Most Trusted WordPress Hosting and Beyond" would be allowed.

mrwyz · a year ago
To me, it seems they have been using the mark to describe a product and the policy says clearly:

> but they cannot use them as part of a product

I mean, just go to wpengine.com and look at the first menu item: Products --> WordPress Hosting.

Deleted Comment

mrwyz commented on WP Engine sent “cease and desist” letter to Automattic   twitter.com/wpengine/stat... · Posted by u/kevmarsden
mrwyz · a year ago
I'm hopeful Automattic will win this one; WP Engine repackages WordPress and delivers it as a service. Fine. Software license allows for that. That does not give them the right to describe their service as "[the] Most Trusted WordPress Hosting and Beyond". They clearly say so in their policy: https://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/
mrwyz commented on Why we picked AGPL   blog.paradedb.com/pages/a... · Posted by u/philippemnoel
g15jv2dp · a year ago
The people who did the work obviously think it's fine, otherwise they wouldn't have licensed it under such a permissive licence.
mrwyz · a year ago
Certainly. MIT/BSD more or less says: steal away (but retain this license notice). In some cases that's desirable.
mrwyz commented on Why we picked AGPL   blog.paradedb.com/pages/a... · Posted by u/philippemnoel
baggy_trough · a year ago
Using code that is freely given is not in any sense stealing.
mrwyz · a year ago
Only if you think taking the work of others and profiting from it without contributing anything back is fine.
mrwyz commented on Why we picked AGPL   blog.paradedb.com/pages/a... · Posted by u/philippemnoel
baggy_trough · a year ago
I don't know what you mean.
mrwyz · a year ago
BSD/MIT allows you to take code without any obligation to contribute back.
mrwyz commented on Why we picked AGPL   blog.paradedb.com/pages/a... · Posted by u/philippemnoel
baggy_trough · a year ago
"freedom to steal"?
mrwyz · a year ago
MIT/BSD and similar ones.

u/mrwyz

KarmaCake day76March 21, 2024View Original