Re: 9.5 Release press coverage - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy
From | Robert Haas |
---|---|
Subject | Re: 9.5 Release press coverage |
Date | |
Msg-id | CA+TgmoY4i1E0Yt4aXZQiSkxvS_zHFSCuZ9h=UFwtw+fHHvUR1A@mail.gmail.com Whole thread Raw |
In response to | Re: 9.5 Release press coverage (Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com>) |
Responses |
Re: 9.5 Release press coverage
("Joshua D. Drake" <jd@commandprompt.com>)
|
List | pgsql-advocacy |
On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 9:11 AM, Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com> wrote: >> I'd really like to understand what wording would be found acceptable >> to the community. I think it's natural for a press release put out by >> a company to begin with the name of that company. The press release >> says in the first sentence that the release was made by the PostgreSQL >> community. > > The first sentence says that EDB is announcing the PostgreSQL 9.5 release, > which it has no right to do. > > Presumably if 2ndQuadrant makes press announcements about the next version > of PPAS, offering people to contact 2ndQuadrant for more information, I > would expect to receive a strongly worded letter. The objection probably > wouldn't focus on which verbs were acceptable, it would be an objection > based upon improper use of a trademark, which is exactly what is happening > here. As far as I know, and IANAL, everything you just said is wrong. If it were actually illegal to use somebody else's trademark in a press release you put out, business communication would become very difficult. We talk about how we've added features to PPAS that provide compatibility with Oracle, and it is my understanding that this is quite legal, even though "Oracle" is not a trademark of EnterpriseDB. I believe that if 2ndQuadrant wants to support PPAS, there is no legal way for EnterpriseDB to stop 2ndQuadrant from offering that service. I also believe that 2ndQuadrant is legally, morally, and in every other way entitled to announce that it will be providing services around PPAS, as long as you don't claim you created it. Heck, I'm not even sure EnterpriseDB would be opposed to the creation of such a service, since the customer would still have to pay the license fee. If 2ndQuadrant enters the business of helping PPAS users avoid paying their license fees, and EnterpriseDB's legal team finds out about it, then, yes, you will be getting a strongly worded letter about that. But that will not be about trademark. Now, when it comes to PostgreSQL, EnterpriseDB not only helped create it, but also distributes the software, employs core team members and committers, sponsors conferences, and in many other ways contributes to the PostgreSQL community. We have just as much right to use that word as anybody else. It would be extraordinary if, despite contributing so much to the PostgreSQL community and to the PostgreSQL 9.5 release, EnterpriseDB were not allowed to talk about that software release. >> If EnterpriseDB is making false statements, then it is >> entirely right for people to be upset about that, but our press >> release does not do that. I have read that press release several >> times from top to bottom and I do not see a single statement in there >> that is false or claims credit for anybody else's work. Period. > > Everything is implied, but overall it is very clearly misleading people to > think that the PostgreSQL brand is controlled by EDB. > > I oppose that viewpoint, from any company that tries to suggest it. I think every single PostgreSQL company tries to suggest that it is the best PostgreSQL company with whom to do business. I would expect nothing else. -- Robert Haas EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company
pgsql-advocacy by date: