326194 - List Legal Status of "Gecko" Trademark

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Marketing :: Trademark Permissions, task)

Description

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

As far as I can tell, "Gecko" is still listed as a trademark of Netscape. Is this true or was it handed over to the Mozilla Foundation? I think whatever the status is, it should be listed one mozilla.org in the trademarks section. Also, if you can clarify here what the status is (before updating the website), that'd be great. :)

Serial Number  	        75605466
Registration Number  	2721647

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=9fvqt3.2.72

Comment 1

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

I am not certain, but I believe that the Gecko trademark is still owned by Netscape, but the Mozilla Foundation has a licence to use it for certain situations, such as describing our layout engine.

It would be useful to have a document describing the exact situation, but I am not able to write it.

Gerv

Comment 2

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

According to Frank, yes, Gecko is still a trademark of Netscape.

Gerv: What kind of document would you want to write? I think just a simple answer on the QA page would be enough. Something like...

"Q: Is Gecko a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation?

A: No. Gecko is a registered trademark of Netscape (Commications Corp?). Netscape/AOL has licensed the trademark to the Foundation for use in describing our layout engine."

Should it be mentioned that others need to note the (R) when discussing Gecko? Or, at the very list, should we say they should contact Netscape?

I'm not completely sure of the exact situation (though I'm sure you are), but I'd be happy to write up something more complete than what's above if you feel it's needed.

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

As I said in comment #1, I'm not sure of the exact situation. I'll try and find out, but I can't promise.

Gerv

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Fixed.

Checking in faq.html;
/cvsroot/mozilla-org/html/foundation/trademarks/faq.html,v  <--  faq.html
new revision: 1.11; previous revision: 1.10
done

Gerv

Comment 5

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

Thank you Gerv. :)