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Re: Possible Spam : Re: Renewal of STAR File trademark registration

It's a modest amount (GBP 300 for a 10-year renewal); but if one wantedto extend protection to other trademarks that would be multipliedaccordingly, and likewise if one wanted protection in otherjurisdictions.
I find Peter M-R's post very helpful, inasmuch as we're trying toprotect community norms rather than commercial interests. I'malso somewhat of the opinion that the original filing of a patentmight have been more of a hindrance than a help in terms of winningover community trust in the IUCr's good intentions. (That wasdone in accordance with advice on appropriate practice at thattime, but it was a time when open-source software ideas werestill gestational).
Brian
On 09/07/2020 19:36, Jim Kaduk via comcifs wrote:> HI, Brian:> > How much money are we talking about?> > Jim Kaduk> > On 2020-07-08 05:17, Brian McMahon via comcifs wrote:>> Dear All>>>> The IUCr Executive Secretary has received a renewal notice for>> the registered trademark "STAR File" that expires at the end of>> the year. There is a cost involved and the Executive Secretary>> has queried whether we still want to protect this trademark.>>>> The trademark was registered in 2001 with the UK Intellectual>> Property Office as an outcome of the COMCIFS discussions in>> 2000 that led to the policy statement on the CIF website>> https://www.iucr.org/resources/cif/comcifs/policy>>>> That statement includes the following paragraph:>>>>      Protection of the standards>>      To protect the STAR File and the CIF as standards for interchanging>>      and archiving electronic data, the IUCr, on behalf of the>>      scientific community,>>>>        * holds the copyrights on the standards themselves,>>        * owns the associated trademarks and service marks, and>>        * holds a patent on the STAR File.>>>>      These intellectual property rights relate solely to the interchange>>      formats, not to the data contained therein, nor to the software>>      used in the generation, access or manipulation of the data.>>>> Note that the STAR File patent has now expired in the sole jurisdiction>> where it was filed (the UK), so the statement should now be revised at>> least to reflect that fact.>>>> So far as we can ascertain, the only active trademark registration is>> that for "STAR File", but I shall can the Executive Secretary to review>> paper files for 2001 when he returns to the office. According to my>> notes, "STAR File" was used as a test case but ran into some>> measure of difficult as predicted by Nick Spadaccini in>> https://www.iucr.org/__data/iucr/lists/comcifs-l/msg00055.html>>>> Obviously the difficulties were overcome in this case, but I>> don't know if the then Executive Secretary pursued other registration>> attempts (e.g. for "CIF").>>>> I invite comment.>>>> Regards>> Brian>> _______________________________________________>> comcifs mailing list>> comcifs@iucr.org>> http://mailman.iucr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/comcifs
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