OSGi™ Alliance Trademark Policy

Version 7.0

Introduction

This document outlines the policy of the OSGi™ Alliance regarding the use of its trademarks. Any use of any OSGi Alliance trademark must adhere to this policy. As used in this memo, "trademarks" includes the OSGi Alliance's logo, the names of its various products, the trademark "OSGi" and the Alliance domain name "osgi.org."

The OSGi Alliance trademarks include the names OSGi™, as well as the OSGi logotype and the OSGi Users' Forum and OSGi Users' Group logos.

The OSGi Alliance's trademark policy attempts to balance two competing interests: the OSGi Alliance's need to ensure that its trademarks remain reliable indicators of quality and security; and the OSGi Alliance's desire to permit community members, specification implementers and other supporters that the OSGi Alliance works with to discuss the OSGi Alliance's specifications and to accurately describe their affiliation with the OSGi Alliance. Striking a proper balance is a tricky situation that many organizations -- in particular those whose products are distributed electronically -- wrestle with every day.

Although the OSGi Alliance's trademark policy comprises a number of specific rules, some contained in companion documents, most reflect the overarching requirement that your use of the OSGi Alliance's trademarks is not confusing or disparaging. By "not confusing," the OSGi Alliance means that people should always know who they are dealing with and where the product they are using was produced. Web sites and specifications that are not produced by the OSGi Alliance shouldn't imply, either directly or by omission, that they were produced by the Alliance. Software that is not compliant with the OSGi Alliance's specifications shouldn't imply, either directly or by omission, that it is compliant. By "not disparaging," the OSGi Alliance means that, outside the bounds of fair use, you cannot use our trademarks as vehicles for defaming OSGi technology or the OSGi Alliance, or for sullying the technology's or Alliance's reputation. These basic requirements can serve as a guide as you work your way through the policy.

Rules of Proper Use of the OSGi Trademark

Whenever possible, a trademark should be used as an attribute immediately preceding the generic noun that describes the object in question. For example:

Proper Form:

The OSGi Alliance's trademarks should be used in their exact form -- neither abbreviated nor combined with any other word or words (e.g., "OSGi" rather than "OSGi-based" or "osgi"). Please see detailed description of the proper use of OSGi trademarks below for more information.

Notice:

A notice should appear nearby the first use of the OSGi Alliance trademark (at least on the same page or at the end of the document): "OSGi is a trademark or a registered trademark of the OSGi Alliance in the United States, other countries, or both."

Trademark Attribution:

On the first usage within a document or on a piece of collateral or signage, the OSGi trademark should feature the trademark symbol (™). The symbol is placed immediately after the trademark, either in superscript or subscript. If the appropriate symbol keys are not available in your word processing software, use of the symbols in parenthetical form is also appropriate [e.g., (sm) or (tm)]. Subsequent uses within the same document do not need to carry the symbol.

ALWAYS use the proper spelling and the proper trademark symbol.

ALWAYS use an OSGi trademark in the way it was intended. The trademarks are not to be used for goods or services for which they were not originally intended. Do not alter them in any way.

The OSGi Alliance requests that you obtain written approval before using the OSGi trademark in a company name, product name or in or on any product, packaging, labels, or advertisements. A form of product name that clearly separates the origin of the product from the environment it runs in is more likely to receive OSGi Alliance approval. It could take the form of "CompanyName BrandName ProductName for OSGi Service Platforms." Or, for example, "CoolCompany Diamond WiringBundles for OSGi Service Platforms." Please send an e-mail to to request approval for your use of the trademark.

NEVER use an OSGi trademark in a derogatory fashion. Do not use an OSGi trademark in any manner that might be understood to suggest an association with or sponsorship by the OSGi Alliance, nor to express or imply endorsement by the OSGi Alliance of a training program, seminar series, corporate name, or product, if not approved by the Alliance. However, the OSGi trademark may be used as part of a truthful statement that a company is an "OSGi Member."

Do not use an OSGi trademark in any fashion that could result in a likelihood of confusion between OSGi specifications and services, and the goods and services of any other entity.

No Possessives:

An OSGi trademark must never be used in possessive form. For example, one would not refer to "OSGi's features" but rather to "... the features of the OSGi™ technology" or "the OSGi™ technology's features."

No Plurals:

An OSGi trademark must never be used in plural form. For example, one would not refer to "OSGis" but rather to "OSGi Service Platform Specification-compliant products."

No Verbs:

An OSGi trademark must never be used as a verb. For example, one should not use "OSGiize."

As the sole exception to the rules above, the OSGi Alliance will permit, but does not encourage, the following standalone usage of the registered trademark "OSGi":

• You may not use the "OSGi" trademark standing alone except to denote or refer to OSGi technology defined by OSGi Specifications.

This exception will allow sentences like "We base our project on OSGi," or "We love OSGi."

Domain Names

You are not allowed to directly include all or part of an OSGi Alliance trademark in a domain name without written permission from the OSGi Alliance.

People naturally associate domain names with organizations whose names sound similar. Almost any use of an OSGi Alliance trademark in a domain name is likely to confuse consumers, thus violating the overarching "not confusing" requirement of the OSGi Alliance trademark policy.

If you want to enhance your Web site address by referring to the OSGi trademark, you can add it as follows: "xyz.abc/osgi."

If you would like to establish an OSGi users' forum or group, please review the Guidelines and Requirements for OSGi™ Users' Groups and Users' Forums. We encourage you to join an existing official OSGi Users' Forum or contact the OSGi Alliance to form a new, official regional users' forum or group. Each users' forum or group endorsed by the OSGi Alliance will be provided with an official, customized OSGi users' forum or group logo and respective URL.

Services Related to the OSGi Alliance Specifications

If you offer services related to the OSGi Alliance specifications, you may use the OSGi Alliance's trademarks in describing and advertising your services, as long as you don't violate these overall guidelines for the use of the OSGi Alliance's trademarks or do anything that might mislead customers into thinking that the OSGi Alliance has any direct relationship with your organization. For example, it's OK if your Web site says, "Software consulting services for OSGi technology available here." It's not OK, though, if it says, "OSGi consulting services sold here," or "OSGi ACME specification available here," since the first suggests that the OSGi Alliance is related to your business, and the second is confusing as to who -- you or the OSGi Alliance -- created the specification. When in doubt, err on the side of providing more, rather than less, explanation and information, particularly in indicating the true source of the product or service being described.

OSGi Logos

Only members of the OSGi Alliance may display the OSGi Alliance logo on their own Web sites for the purpose of indicating their membership in the OSGi Alliance. For a more thorough description, please check out the OSGi Alliance Logo Usage Policy. Members may make t-shirts, desktop wallpaper, or baseball caps with the OSGi Alliance logos on them, though only for themselves and their friends (meaning people from whom they do not receive anything of value in return). You cannot put the OSGi Alliance logo on anything that you produce commercially -- at least not without receiving the OSGi Alliance's permission. Please send an e-mail to to request permission to use the OSGi Alliance logo.

Do not produce modified versions of the OSGi logo. A modified logo would raise the possibility of consumer confusion, thus violating the OSGi Alliance's trademarks guidelines.

Please contact the OSGi Alliance if you require a high-resolution copy of the OSGi Alliance logos.

Questions

The OSGi Alliance has tried to make its trademark policy as comprehensive and clear as possible. If you have any questions, please contact the OSGi Alliance at .

This policy is derived from the Mozilla Trademark Policy and the text of this policy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License