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aussie149
The Merovingian
Joined: Feb 12, 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Australia
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 Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject: Office Professional Mac.. |
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mm...
Look familiar? There is a very similar [different seller] US ebay ad, which looks a lot spiffier and pushes a product known as ButlerOfficePro. I prefer this one, where you can see the [copyrighted?] "akua" icons clearly.
Peter |
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OPENSTEP
The One
Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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Well, the big problem with that posting is that it's clearly using our screenshot containing the NeoOffice trademark. I'll get on filing a claim with the eBay VERO system.
ed |
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sardisson
Town Crier
Joined: Feb 01, 2004
Posts: 4588
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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They're also stealing NeoWiki bandwidth...or were, before I moved those images.
Smokey
_________________
"[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki |
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OPENSTEP
The One
Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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Complaints have been filed with eBay's VERO system for all items currently from that seller that appear to be in violation of our trademark policy based on the screenshots of the product. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
If you see any future violations from any seller, please post them here or in the "eBay Fraud" topic in the main Support forum.
ed |
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SteveRead
Operator
Joined: Jan 14, 2007
Posts: 46
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: Office Professional Mac |
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| And if you go to their comparison list of Office Professional Mac and MS Office and click on one of the boxes in the list, it takes you to a NeoWiki page! |
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sardisson
Town Crier
Joined: Feb 01, 2004
Posts: 4588
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:29 pm Post subject: Re: Office Professional Mac |
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| SteveRead wrote: | | And if you go to their comparison list of Office Professional Mac and MS Office and click on one of the boxes in the list, it takes you to a NeoWiki page! |
They used to be loading our check/x images directly from the wiki. To conserve bandwidth, I moved the images they were loading 
Smokey
_________________
"[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki |
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SteveRead
Operator
Joined: Jan 14, 2007
Posts: 46
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Ah, those were the images you meant. Anyway, even more evidence that they were directly stealing from NeoOffice. |
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OPENSTEP
The One
Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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The images are the only reference to the "NeoOffice" trademark in the listings.
It is perfectly fine to redistribute our code in whatever terms compliant to GPL licensing that you desire, providing you exorcise "NeoOffice" and all other trademarks owned by Planamesa.
Use of the "NeoOffice" trademark is strictly governed by our trademark usage guidelines, namely that all net profit is donated back to Planamesa for continuing development of NeoOffice.
Any use of our brand for profit without prior agreement is forbidden. This is the fundamental aim of our trademark usage policy.
Given the direct linking to our screenshots and lack of an additional trademark licensing agreement beyond our publicly available terms, this individual is trying to bilk people out of money, defaming the good name of the brand we have built upon free software and all of its ideals.
Even though it is already required by trademark law, I am more than pleased to request that eBay enforce our trademark policy under US law to prevent even one person being bilked for $20 by this huckster.
ed |
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aussie149
The Merovingian
Joined: Feb 12, 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:02 am Post subject: Legit Use |
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| OPENSTEP wrote: |
It is perfectly fine to redistribute our code in whatever terms compliant to GPL licensing that you desire, providing you exorcise "NeoOffice" and all other trademarks owned by Planamesa.
ed |
Speaking of which, I see our ButlerOfficePro friend is asking $35US for his [assuming gender] version on EBay, much more via website. I am not sure what to make of this gambit though
"If you have ever tried cheap Office software on your Mac,
I know why you are looking at my ad!!!"
Could be taken as an insult to NeoOffice - and himself 
P |
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Lorinda
Captain Mifune
Joined: Jun 20, 2006
Posts: 2051
Location: Midwest, USA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:17 am Post subject: |
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Given what Ed just said about trademark issues, are these folks also violating the NeoOffice trademark?
linboo.com
<edited to wrap URL link - pal> |
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pluby
The Architect
Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:13 am Post subject: |
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| Lorinda wrote: | Given what Ed just said about trademark issues, are these folks also violating the NeoOffice trademark?
linboo.com
<edited Wrap URL link> |
I would say that the linboo.com people are are not violating our trademark usage guidelines. They are selling a CD for only $2.25 which should be reasonably close to actual production costs (even sitting at your computer burning CDs takes time). Also, they are not trying to represent it is their work and they are pretty clear that they are merely selling CDs of what is availbable on our website.
Patrick |
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Lorinda
Captain Mifune
Joined: Jun 20, 2006
Posts: 2051
Location: Midwest, USA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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That's what I had initially asssumed, but Ed's comments got me to thinking about it again. I figured it was better to ask than not. Thanks for clarifying it!
Lorinda |
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OPENSTEP
The One
Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, the reasonable cost provision applies in my opinion as well. It takes serious time to duplicate CDs 
As Patrick mentioned, the big no no is trying to sell our software for a profit. GPL allows you to resell the software, but to comply with US trademark law you need to explcitly remove all references to "NeoOffice" from that software. The NeoOffice brand is a trademark that we've built to represent free software and the community; it is illegal for someone to use our trademark to make a profit.
That only applies to software, mind you, so things like books that use our name in the title, mugs, dish detergent, jeans, etc. are fine; they are different classes of goods under US trademark law. We claim only usage in Class 9
ed |
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OPENSTEP
The One
Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:16 am Post subject: |
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The listings in violation of our trademark have been removed by eBay.
Thank you for bringing these listings to my attention.
ed |
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