[drupal-docs] Legal Support

[Andre Molnar]

Yep,

This is why I was wondering about expert help in this area.

Both arguments sound good, but what is the legal precedent.

 From legalzoom:
"Can I Use My Trademark Name?

Appropriate use of a name that is trademarked is important in complying 
with Federal law (and, if applicable, state law). It will also help 
preserve any business relationships you may have with the owner of the 
trademark name. Because trademarks are words, symbols or designs that 
specifically identify and distinguish the source of an owner's 
commercial goods, any way in which the name is used that is likely to 
cause confusion to the public as to whether the use is made by the owner 
or by another is generally prohibited.

Though some trademark owners assume that no one else has a right to 
independently use the mark in any capacity whatsoever, this is not 
exactly true. One can refer to a trademark name for a legitimate 
purpose, as long as no more of the mark is being used than is necessary 
for this purpose. Generally, trademark laws merely control commercial 
use of the name. Also, under the fair use doctrine, the more common and 
generic the word(s) are or have become in the English language, the less 
the trademark owner may be able to regulate its use by others. The fair 
use doctrine also protects nominative use of the trademark name, as is 
often done by competing advertisers in its marketing materials.

Trademark owners often have their own policies as to how their mark may 
be used. Here are some typical ways in which a trademark name is 
authorized for use by a non-owner:

     * With correct trademark and service mark symbols: The symbol "®" 
refers to a federally registered mark, and should be placed after the 
trademark (e.g. LegalZoom®). In contrast, names that have not been 
registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office or those 
that still have applications pending may not use the "®" symbol and 
should be denoted with either "TM" or "SM" for a trademark or service 
mark, respectively (e.g. LegalZipTM).
     * As the trademark name appears in the USPTO registry: The mark 
should not be abbreviated, hyphenated, or altered in any other ways.
* Without misleading or confusing the customer: This is an especially 
important rule to a trademark owner, and lies at the core of trademark 
protection. A trademark must always be kept distinct from any other 
unaffiliated companies, brands or sources. If the non-owner user of the 
mark happens to have a branding agreement with the owner, further 
guidelines can often be found within it. "

I don't know if this clears or muddies the waters.
I interpret this interpretation to mean that it would be okay. 
Especially since we would not be making any claim that is untrue.

Yahoo! has this to say:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/guidelines.html
# Restrictions upon Use. The Yahoo! Brand Features will not be presented 
or used: a) in a manner that suggests that editorial content has been 
authored by, or represents the views or opinions of, Yahoo! or any 
Yahoo! personnel or affiliate; b) in a manner that is misleading, 
defamatory, libelous, obscene, infringing or otherwise objectionable; c) 
in connection with any material that infringes the trademark, copyright 
or any other rights of any third party; d) as part of a name of a 
product or service of a company other than Yahoo!; or e) in a manner 
that infringes, derogates, dilutes, or impairs the rights of Yahoo! in 
the Brand Features. Yahoo! shall have complete discretion to evaluate 
Licensee's use and to decide whether that use violates any of the 
foregoing restrictions.

But they also say:
# Approval. All specific uses of any Yahoo! Brand Features must be 
approved in advance by Yahoo! Brand Marketing. You may request approval 
by completing the Request for Approval Form attached as an Exhibit to 
the License and/or which may be found at 
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/permissions.html, and forwarding it 
to Permissions Agent at fax no. 408-349-5310 or c/o Yahoo! Permissions, 
701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA, 94089. You must also include complete 
samples of each proposed use. Yahoo!'s brand marketing department will 
typically review the request and respond within ten (10) business days, 
but is under no obligation to respond. You may not use Brand Features 
unless and until Yahoo! has granted its specific approval and any and 
all conditions of such approval have been fulfilled by the Licensee.

Yes - I think we need a lawyer before we lock horns with Yahoo.

andre

Anisa wrote:
> That's my sense of it too...  this is /internal/ after all. 
> 
> Except, there is that case study that was published somewhere...
> 
> Anisa.
> 
> Cogley, Rick wrote:
> 
>>I am not a lawyer, but as a business person I think that permission would be
>>not only courteous, but also required. When marketing dep'ts have customers
>>fill out surveys, sometimes they ask at the same time if they can use the
>>comments publicly. From my experience, many companies, especially publicly
>>traded ones, are sensitive to this sort of things. FWIW. 
>>
>>Best Regards,
>>Rick