Collaboration Summit 2014

Unlike the legal policies of most companies that are drafted by lawyers in a vacuum (if not simply copied from other websites), Wikimedia's new, unconventional trademark policy was developed through a seven-month long consultation with the Wikimedia community to address its particular needs. The resulting comments from the community led to 340 changes in the draft policy and significant discussion. The result is a short, clear policy written in common language that is designed to enable the mission of Wikimedia. And to make things even better, the design and visuals for the policy are evolutionary compared to most legalese-based trademark policies. This approach along with a “Quick License” option will make it easier for the community to learn about how to use the Wikimedia marks properly. The Model Trademark Guidelines provide a range of choices that would be found lawful and enforceable under trademark law, that are consistent with FLOSS culture, and that respects most trademark owner's desires. In this session we will discuss lessons learned from developing this innovative policy, the intersection with the Model Trademark guidelines which can help provide practitioners with best practices that are repeatable in other FOSS development projects.