<div dir="ltr"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">If the branding is very distinct, and the word itself isn't something that can be owned as there is lots of prior art in active use<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>well the case of Apple (computer) vs Apple (the music company) was very similar: a common word and very different industries (at the time Apple was not in the music/multimedia industry).</div><div>And the losers even had the name before Apple Computers was a thing.</div><div>IANAL, but I would bet that using Vulkan in the name is not going to be ok.</div><div><br></div><div>Maurizio</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 11:46 AM Robert Osfield <<a href="mailto:robert.osfield@gmail.com">robert.osfield@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi Chris,</div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>
I am not a lawyer, but I think this is in a muddy area and it concerns
me. I don't think anyone here can answer this, probably the only way to
know is to ask Khronos directly for their interpretation in writing. But
I suspect the answer will be "find a different name that doesn't embed
the Vulkan" word mark".</div><div><br></div><div> Just hoping to avoid future pain here. I can reach out to Khronos if that is what seems best to do.</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The of registered trademarks is something that I have considered, but haven't official request permission from Khronous. My plan is not to use the Vulkan logo colour, font or style in the VulkanSceneGraph logo, not that I've really thought too much about that, other than don't be like Vulkan. Branding similar to the OpenSceneGraph would probably make sense as they part of the same family. If we have to then VulcanSceneGraph would a bit naff fallback.<br></div><div><br></div><div>If the branding is very distinct, and the word itself isn't something that can be owned as there is lots of prior art in active use, then I would have thought while a lawyer might say ohh absolutely not, in practice I suspect they would be unlikely to be able to defend it court.</div><div><br></div><div>Within Khronos I suspect there will be a range of views. Having a professional grade scene graph being developed explicitly on top of Vulkan is an asset to Vulkan adoption and promotion. If Kronous want Vulkan to break out beyond the game market early adopters then the VulkanSceneGraph will be a great vehicle for it. I could see that some within Khronos might concerned that it might be viewed as Khronos project and would detract from their own mission, but I'd hope this would be in the minority - or at least it should be as Vulkan really needs a professional grade scene graph to achieve widespread adoption, and having the Vulkan name in there will a great advert for it.<br></div><div><br></div><div>I did look at the costs of trademarking VulkanSceneGraph myself but the for worldwide it's several tens of thousands of $ so I decided against it.</div><div><br></div><div>I had considered finding a friendly Khronos member to introduce the project to with the hope that they would advocate the project. If I were attending Siggraph this is when I'd do it. I am open to others taking on this role if they already have a good working relationship with members of Khronos. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Getting an official OK from Khronos would be something more challenging and definitely require getting involved with some kinda of committee discussion. Having something tangible to discuss in terms of prototype code and design document could be useful in this process so they can have a bit of confidence that the project is an asset rather than a risk. I am obviously a few months away from this.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,<br></div><div>Robert.<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br></div>
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