Deadline

[Luke Schierer]

On Sun, Apr 08, 2007 at 10:39:08PM -0500, Casey Harkins wrote:
> Sean Egan wrote:
> > On 4/8/07, Richard Laager <rlaager at wiktel.com> wrote:
> >> On Sun, 2007-04-08 at 18:17 -0700, Sean Egan wrote:
> >>> Also, we may now start using ™ in
> >>> conjunction with the word Pidgin as a precursor to registering a
> >>> trademark, if we decide to do that. Thoughts?
> >> I'd like to avoid the stupid ™ unless it's necessary from a legal
> >> perspective. I think we should register Pidgin as a trademark, unless
> >> the fees are really excessive.
> > 
> > They are not excessive ($200-300, I think), but you are not allowed to
> > register a trademark until you're actually using the mark in trade,
> > which we're not yet doing. This is something we can only do after a
> > release. a ™ is certainly not necessary, but would be a good way to
> > assert our interest in protecting this mark until we're able to
> > legally register it.
> >
> 
> How about using the ™ in the "About" window with some text about Pidgin 
> being a trademark of Instant Messaging Freedom Corporation and leaving 
> most other instances of "Pidgin" without?
> 
> Is the Instant Messaging Freedom Corporation a 501c (non-profit)? I'm 
> assuming not (since 501c's are a PITA to setup from what I understand). 
> I certainly could see personal and corporate donations (regardless of 
> 501c status) as a way to raise funds for trademark registration and 
> potentially defending it (hopefully that won't be necessary).
> 
> I was pretty surprised by the news and want to commend all of you 
> involved for seeing this through to a mostly peaceful resolution.
> 
> -casey

It is not a 501c.  It will be though, the paper work is in progress.

luke