beelinebill January 19th, 2008
The following FAQs are for further clarification to Digium’s Google AdWord Policy.
Why does Digium regulate the use of Digium trademarked terms?
Digium takes its trademark rights seriously. The trademarks DIGIUM and ASTERISK signal quality, dependability and the cutting edge, especially to those familiar with IP telephony. For Digium and the Asterisk community, there’s value in ensuring that the trademarked terms are used in a legal, consistent and ethical fashion. Additionally, trademark law requires that trademark owners monitor and police unauthorized use in order to preserve future trademark rights.
Does Digium have an official trademark use policy?
Yes, see http://www.digium.com/en/company/view-policy/5.
What is Digium’s policy toward the use of Digium trademarked terms in Google ads?
Digium recently asked Google to begin permitting the use of Digium trademarked terms only by those organizations on the Digium-supplied “authorized users list.” Following Google’s implementation of this, a number of organizations that had been using Digium trademarked terms were asked to remove the terms from the text of their Google ads. Digium significantly underestimated the number of organizations unknown to Digium that were legitimately utilizing Digium trademarked terms in their Google AdWords marketing campaigns. In short, we now believe we made a mistake and are working to relax the requirements for using Digium trademarked terms in Google AdWords. The resulting change will reinstate trademark rights for the vast majority of those using the terms.
How long will it take until I can go back to using Digium and Asterisk in my ads?
Digium has taken all the necessary actions to reinstate the use of AdWords as outlined in Danny Windham’s blog entry on http://blogs.digium.com and in the mailing list for asterisk-biz. Google has placed us in the queue to implement the system change that will reinstate your AdWords; however, they would not commit to a defined turnaround time. Unfortunately, we have little control over Google’s timetable. Once the change has been implemented by Google, you will unfortunately need to re-enter your order with Google.
I sell Digium products. Can I use Digium or Asterisk in my Google ads?
The vast majority of companies that sell Digium cards or Asterisk-based products qualify to use these terms in Google AdWords.
If I’m a reseller, do I have to sell only Digium products to gain access to the use of the trademark and AdWords?
No, you may sell Digium products as well as others as an unaffiliated reseller. Digium Authorized Resellers receive a long list of entitlements far beyond AdWords use, such as market development funds, marketing and sales tools and support, use of the Digium|Asterisk logo, deeper discounts and an assigned channel manager. To learn more, visit http://www.digium.com/en/ecosystem/resellers/.
Is there a cost for a partner or reseller to obtain the right to use Digium trademarked terms?
Program entitlements such as use of the Digium|Asterisk logo are a key part of our partner programs; however, there is no specific charge for the right to use the trademarked terms. Companies in compliance with our policy can use our trademarked terms free of charge.
Will Asterisk user groups and Asterisk developers have rights to use the trademark and use Google AdWords?
Digium grants rights to the Asterisk trademark to all of these groups.
What are examples of Digium’s trademarked terms?
Digium owns trademark rights to a number of terms, including Asterisk, Digium, Asterisk Appliance, Astricon, Switchvox and Digium Asterisk World, among others.
Asterisk is open source. How can Digium have a trademark on it?
Digium is the original author, corporate sponsor, maintainer and license holder of Asterisk and as such, we have a registered trademark on “Asterisk.” We have chosen the GPLv2 as our open source license. This is common in open source software.
If Digium relies on the community for development and other types of support, shouldn’t that community be able to benefit from using the term “Asterisk,” just as they do the software?
Yes, absolutely, as long as you are in compliance with Digium’s Trademark Policy.
Do other open source companies do this?
Yes, they do protect their trademarks and work judiciously to continue to defend them. Companies like MySQL and JBoss took steps over time to protect their trademarks, and Linus Torvalds has always watched over his trademark on Linux.
What else is Digium doing to protect its trademarks?
Digium has an internal system to monitor use of our trademarks. In addition, resellers, distributors, users, employees and community members often report violations to Digium. We attempt to deal with trademark violations amicably prior to taking additional action.
How does Digium’s focus on this sort of thing help the Asterisk community?
Digium heads the Asterisk open source project and invests heavily in growing and supporting the community of developers, testers, bug fixers, documentation writers and the ecosystem as a whole. We’re also a for-profit company that invests in commercial efforts. We firmly believe that Digium’s commercial success allows us to invest in the community and in Asterisk’s continued development, which benefits the entire Asterisk ecosystem.
How can potential violations of Digium’s trademark policy be reported?
Anyone can report potential trademark violations to trademarks@digium.com.
