DC Metro MINIs' logo was just submitted for trademarking. If anyone wants to use the logo for any reason other than insertion into a signature, permission must be obtained by DCMM's board.
If you already have the logo in your signature, don't worry..that's ok.
Low resolution logos will be made available for anyone wishing to put the logo in their signature from now on.
The logo will now bear "TM". When the trademarking process is finished, it will bear an R in a circle.
In addition, I wanted to thank Craig (COOPeration) for his kind permission in allowing the club to keep his design for our own. Craig, thank you from DCMM.

 

Does anyone have any DCMM logo'd products they want to sell me before they are illegal?

 

If someone from the board could answer my questions, I'd appreciate it:

May I ask what is the purpose of this? Does the club fear that people will profit or copy the logo?

1. How much is this costing the club to get it trademarked?

2. And, which logo are you talking about? The circle one or the oval one?

3. You mentioned using the logo in NAM is okay, but does that mean using the logo say at another forum like Motoring Underground as a show of pride in the DCMM then a legal violation?

4. How much does it cost to get a logo trademarked?

Thanks in advance.

 

Larry, in the past someone had already tried to make their own Tshirts using the logo. They didn't ask permission. This registration process will protect it from any future attempts to use the logo without permission.
1. $250..the club has the funds to do this.
2. The shape doesn't matter..the graphic itself will be registered and protected.
3. Logos already in signatures are ok...anywhere. However, if it( the sig logo) is used to create a graphic say, for a Tshirt (or a hat, keychain, etc.) to be sold..that's a no-no.
4. $250

Hope this answers your questions satisfactorally..

 

Cool. THanks for the response

 

you're welcome

 

Oops, I just realized that I asked the same question twice about cost.

The 4th question should have been:

4. How difficult will this make changing the logo in the future if the club ever decides to update their logo design?

Thanks.

 

Good news!!

Donna

 

kgdblu,

Just a suggestion - you might want to look at developing an actual policy and having it available somewhere regarding use of the trademark. I found a trademark policy that Ubuntu uses. Probably more extensive than what DCMM may need, but maybe there are some useful concepts and ideas in there.

Hopefully you would never have a problem or issues, but it would be unfortunate to lose the trademark protection because DCMM failed to adequately protect the trademark by not making the rules on usage/permission clear.

HTH!

 

Ubuntu Rocks! We should all be using it.... well, unless you're already using Solaris for your desktop OS, like I am

 

Katie... in light of PlayPlay's concern, may I suggest editing your 1st post to change the two references to "NAM signature" to just say "signature"?

Alan - yeah, but can you play Counter-Strike on Solaris?

Everyone else... although it may sound a bit strict in terms of "board approval required"... remember... the board consists of members just like you, who are just trying to help ensure the integrity of the club. Heck, maybe you'll be on the board at some point!

 

Just an observation from my days dealing with corporate contracts, legal terms of use, etc.

This registered trademark will do NOTHING to prevent future attempts to use the logo.

What it will mean is that if someone does use it without permission, we have the moral authority and legal right to tell them they are wrong. But we can't *make* them do anything in and of ourselves.

ENFORCING a trademark is all together another matter. Are we stepping up to the idea that we're going to back-up our threats with legal action? Do we have a legal fund set aside to deal with this?

I'm not saying this is a bad idea (nor do I necessarily agree with it), but I just want people to realize that a trademark, copyright, terms of use are only as strong as your willingness to pursue their enforcement.

[And a caveat - I also presume if someone is blatantly ignoring the trademark and they are a member of NAM or elsewhere in the MINI community, that we could and should bring pressure on them in those ways - cancelling memberships, blocking forum posts, etc. But short of legal action, if the graphic is out there, it can be misappropriated]

[Another caveat - no, I'm not a lawyer - but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn one night in 2003 . I'd love to hear other people's opinions on the true effectiveness of trademarking a logo.]

 

I guess if we change the logo in the future, we'll have to go through the process again.

Thanks for that info.

OP edited.

Do you have any suggestions that can be implemented?

 

a. Discuss among the board just how important this is and how far you're willing to go to enforce it
b. Decide now the escalation steps you'll take and who'll take them, if a trademark infringment is identified. Document this policy but do not publish it outside of the club's board. Examples include one, some or all of the following:
- Phone call - cease & desist, with email follow-up
- Email with cease & desist
- Certified letter from club
- Certified letter from club's lawyer
c. With an idea of how you'll respond, decide if we need to raise or set aside money in the event this becomes an issue (how much does a letter cost, from a lawyer, even if we don't intend to move forward with a lawsuit). If we'll never have the money, then decide whether this whole exercise and the $250 is valuable or if it's a false sense of security.

For me, I tend to fall in the middle - a trademark or copyright has some value as a deterrent to civil minded individuals but if someone is determined to violate it, we're not likely to challenge them through the legal system. So, is the deterrent worth $250?

 

Thanks JD. You sure you're not a lawyer?

 

I want everyone to understand that we're not trying to "kill the fun". That's not the point... the point is that the DCMM board (again, consisting of members who were voted into the role) is supposed to oversee the representation of the club. It's not "power grabbing", it's just an interest in protecting the identity of the club.

Constructive criticism is welcome and indeed sought, but I have concerns that people might misunderstand our intent. Remember that the actual members on the board change every year, so we're not doing any of this for personal reasons!

 

So does that mean I need to turn in my clings, flags, banners, posters, and monitor (DCMM background)?

No DCMM logo in my sig though, so I think I'm good there.

 

posters? we never did posters...and there are only 2 banners and they ain't in Guam
No Will, you're good.

 

Maybe its a sign then? Placard? Laminated doo-dad from the 2006 Annapolis 4th of July Parade.

 

I don't think those "placards" will be an issue:
1) when they were made I was on the Board as a Treasurer, so I had the authorization of copying the logo
2) it was for the use of the Club and its members only
3) the author of those (moi) did not profit from the placards : in fact they were given out for free and their production was paid by me, along with the goodie bags - which btw had the DCMM logo glued on them.

 

Yeah, but Adam West wants to talk to you about that bat signal /logo in your sig.... hahahahhha

 

That was really nice of you! I hope those type of niceites will still occur in the future.

To do that now would take several meetings of the board... first to approve doing it; and then more meetings for design approvals; and then the last meeting to make sure you were an approved vendor for the manufacturing of it!

 

Or perhaps a ***** slap across the head for being a smart ***

All you do is whine about ****! I am tired of walking on eggshells because I am a board member.

 

I'll take the slap for being a smart ***.

I don't expect any board member to walk on egg shells for volunteering to serve on the board.

It would, however be nice to read on any of our club sites about some of the issues and things that the board thinks that we as members, should be concerned about.

For example, I tried to renew my membership the other day.... After researching the fee schedule as posted on the forum thread here; I went to the Club's Blog Site; and read this post that specifically aimed me to the Membership page; where I read the following,



Please note - We regret that we are no longer able to accept payments via Paypal.If you would like to join DC Metro MINIs, please send an email to membership@dcmetrominis.org. We will get back to you very shortly with what you need to sign up.




---

• I'm curious where I should mail a check;
• I'm curious what the issue is with the Paypal account;
• and, I'm really curious why the LEGAL PROTECTION of our logo is more important than making it easy for someone to join DCMM or to renew their membership.

Jay, I know you don't believe me, but I've said it before to you and publicly, I am grateful for your efforts with the logo'd items we've gotten in the past. Your efforts made them happen. I am not criticizing you.

My issue is that we are a club made up of a lot of people and feel that some of these people may want and should be allowed and even encouraged to take on some projects.

If there is a big policy or organizational issue facing the club, do the board members feel that discussing the issue here with the members and getting their input before creating and instituting policies is somehow a bad idea?

I thought when you all stood for election to office, you were doing so to represent us, the membership.

 

The reason for the checks is that we FINALLY fixed Paypal. It was one hell of a time with them. The links, I assume, should be up soon.

The members should not be concerned about anything because what the board is doing is getting EVERYTHING organized the way it should have been. Cross the t's, dot the i's crap.

I, and the rest of the board, wants to get back to the FUN of the club and we are working on ALOT of things behind the scenes so than the future of DCMM is stable and can concentrate on the members and not the political BS.

Yes, when I stood up there @ the meeting, I wanted to represent the membership and get the club to do more charity stuff, but once I got behind the scenes, WOW...... Now all this will be taken care of and the future board will be able to concentrate on the members.

Any other questions? Bring it ON! You have 5 min. left.

We are near the end of getting DCMM organized so than everything is in place. It has taken almost 2 years, but I can see the light baby.