Trademark and Brand Usage Policy

This policy is designed to answer the most common questions we receive regarding use of our Edgewatch trademarks, to provide our community with clear guidance, and to enable you to make certain uses of our Edgewatch trademarks without the need to seek our individual, written permission in each instance.

What are Edgewatch Trademarks

The Edgewatch trademarks (collectively, the “Edgewatch Marks”) are all trademarks owned by Occentus Network SL a private limited liability company incorporated in Spain, including but not limited to: “EdgeWatch” with trademark registration number in United States of America, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United kingdom:

• USA 6083866
• EU 018130597
• UK 00918130597

In Which Situations May I Use the Edgewatch Marks?

To Truthfully Identify Edgewatch and Our Products and Services

Consistent with our position favoring the free exchange of ideas and information, nothing in this Policy is intended to limit any rights you may have to use Edgewatch’s Marks in a manner that is otherwise allowed by law.

For example, trademark law (including pursuant to the “nominative fair use” doctrine) allows you to make non-trademark use of the Edgewatch Marks to truthfully refer to or identify the Edgewatch and its products and services. So, you don’t need our permission to write about why you love (or hate) our advocacy work, to inform others of the origin of our Edgewatch Platform, our software, or the like.

Your intended use may be a nominative fair use if:

• it’s not easy to identify the product or company without using a mark (e.g., using the term “Chicago Bulls” instead of “the basketball team that plays in Chicago” is acceptable);
• only so much is used as is necessary to identify the product or company and to accomplish your purpose; and
• you do nothing to suggest the mark-owner has endorsed or sponsored your use.

Personal, Non-Commercial Uses on Affinity Products

You may use the Edgewatch Marks without asking our permission on products like t-shirts and stickers that express your affinity for our organization, provided that: (1) your use is non-commercial in nature and you give the products away for free; (2) your use is not misleading and not likely to cause confusion as to whether Edgewatch sponsored, endorsed, or was otherwise involved in creating or offering your products; and (3) if you are offering more than 50 units, you do not advertise or offer the products online.

If you want to sell affinity products (even if you’re just charging a nominal fee to cover your costs), want to give away more than 50 units online, or want to make any other uses not specifically permitted here, you must obtain our written permission first.

In Which Situations May I NOT Use the Edgewatch Marks?

In any situation not specifically listed above, and where you are not otherwise legally permitted to do so, you must ask us for permission before using our trademarks. For example, you may not use our Edgewatch Marks in the following situations:

Uses that are Confusing, False, or Misleading are not permitted.

You may not use any Edgewatch Mark in a manner that is false or misleading, or in a manner likely to confuse consumers or the public about the source or origin of your products or services. Confusing uses include uses that may cause people to think your products or services are Edgewatch’s products or services, or vice versa, or that may imply a formal affiliation between you and Edgewatch where none exists. Unless we have done so in writing, Edgewatch has not officially sponsored or endorsed your product or service, and you should not imply that we have.

You may not use the Edgewatch Marks in, or as a part of, any trade name, trademark, domain name, or internet account name that is likely to cause confusion. So, the business name or trademark “Edgewatch Activist Tool,” or the Twitter handle “@EdgewatchActivistTool,” are not permitted, because folks who see those uses are likely to assume that they are official Edgewatch services or accounts, or to assume that their owner is officially sponsored or endorsed by Edgewatch. By the same token, the domain name “Edgewatch-Activist-Tools.com,” or the Facebook group “Edgewatch Activist Tools,” would also be likely to cause confusion.

That said, the purpose of trademark law is to address confusion, and uses that misleadingly suggest affiliation where none exists: not to silence legitimate criticism, commentary, or parody. For example, if you were to use an @Edgewatch_sucks Twitter account to voice criticism of our organization, that is probably not something the public would view as an official Edgewatch account, and no permission would be required for a use of that nature.

Uses of Edgewatch Marks in Connection with Derivative Software

Edgewatch offers a few software products to the community on a free and open source basis (our “Open Source Products”), which means that you can alter and modify the source code of e.g., our Edgewatch Insight project, to better suit your needs. We encourage you to do so! And, nothing in this policy is intended to limit your ability to tinker with, improve, and modify our open source software in any manner.

However, from a trademark point of view, software that you have modified is different from the software that originates from Edgewatch, and you may not brand any derivative software with an Edgewatch Mark, even if you make only minor changes to it, except as provided below (repackaging). For example, if you modify our Edgewatch insight software, you are free to distribute that modification broadly, but you may not distribute the Derivative Software under the Edgewatch brand, or under any brand that is confusingly similar to “Edgewatch” or to any other Edgewatch Mark, unless your modification constitutes a repackaging as defined below. For example, use of “Edgewatch insight by tommy” or “Edgewatch Fork” as trademarks or in advertising your Derivative Software is otherwise expressly prohibited.

You can, however, use the Edgewatch Marks to truthfully describe your own products or services in a descriptive, non-trademark sense. For example, if you offer a software product that adds features to one of our Open Source Products, you may use an Edgewatch trademark like “Edgewatch” to describe the fact that your software is based on Edgewatch software or data. So, statements like “based on Edgewatch,” “forked from Edgewatch,” or “derived from Edgewatch,” would be permitted to the extent they’re accurate. However, using Edgewatch’s logos or designs, or otherwise making a trademark-type use of the Edgewatch Marks would not be permitted.

If you produce a plugin that is compatible with one of our Open Source Products, you may use the Open Source Product’s trademark as part of the filename for your plugin, though we ask that you also include your own name in the filename (for example, “Edgewatch-yournamehere-s3front”), to avoid confusion with official Edgewatch plugins. We also ask that you provide appropriate attribution to Edgewatch as the source of the original Open Source Product in any NOTICE, README, LICENSE, or similar file in your distribution, and as appropriate elsewhere in your source code.

If I Have Permission to Use an Edgewatch Mark, What Are the Usage Restrictions for That Trademark?

Use the Exact Mark. Edgewatch’s trademarks should be used in their exact, most up-to-date form. They should neither be abbreviated nor combined with other words.

Mark the Mark. The first or most prominent use of an Edgewatch Mark should be accompanied by a “tm” symbol (“™”), to indicate that it is a trademark; you may also use the “r in a circle” symbol (“®”), if the trademark in question is a registered trademark. If you aren’t sure, using the “tm” symbol (“™”) is fine. The first or most prominent mention of an Edgewatch Mark should also be set apart from surrounding text, either by capitalizing, italicizing, bolding, or underlining it.

Credit the Mark. The following notice text should appear somewhere nearby your first or most prominent mention of an Edgewatch Mark (for example in a footer). If that’s not practical, you may include it in a reasonable alternate location:

Edgewatch™ is a trademark of Occentus Network SL - more info at edgewatch.com

How Do I Report Trademark Abuse?

Please report any misuse of the Edgewatch Marks to [email protected], or directly to our support portal and provide us with as much information as you can about the use you think might be infringing. We’ll investigate the use, and take appropriate action, if warranted.