Trademark Usage

Rocky Linux copyrighted works, trademarks and logos are held by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation and are subject to the Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines below:

TRADEMARK AND LOGO USAGE GUIDELINES

The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation’s (the “Foundation”) copyrighted works, trademarks, and logos (collectively, the “Foundation Marks”) are the Foundation’s intellectual property and are among the Foundation’s most valuable assets. In order to protect the Foundation Marks, it is essential that they are used property. These Guidelines are intended to guide any third party that wishes to use or display the Foundation Marks in any manner. Any uses of the Foundation Marks must abide by these Guidelines. The Foundation may update these Guidelines from time to time in its sole discretion. Any use of the Foundation Marks following an update is governed by the updated Guidelines.

Please note that most use of the Foundation Marks requires written permission from the Foundation. Except as expressly set forth herein, you may not use any of the Foundation Marks unless you have written approval from the Foundation or a written agreement with the Foundation that contains a license or permission to use the Foundation Marks. If you fail to follow these Guidelines or any specific guidelines set forth in your agreement with the Foundation, then the Foundation retains the right to modify or revoke your license or permission to use the Foundation Marks, in addition to any other rights the Foundation may have in law or equity.

Prohibited Uses

You may not do any of the following without prior written authorization from the Foundation:

Ownership. The Foundation is the owner of the Foundation Marks. Do not assert rights over any Foundation Marks and do not seek to obtain trademark protection for any Foundation Marks or variations thereof.

Company, Product, Service, or Website Name. You may not incorporate any Foundation Marks, or any recognizable portion of any Foundation Marks, into your company name, app name, product name, service name, website or domain name, social media handle, taglines, or any other source-identifying materials.

Merchandise. Unless you are an officially licensed vendor, you may not incorporate any Foundation Marks, or any recognizable portion of any Foundation Marks, into any merchandise that you create, sell, offer for sale, distribute, or otherwise make available to the public. This prohibition includes but is not limited to clothing, accessories, promotional items, printed materials, and any other tangible goods.

Advertising, Marketing, and Promotional Material. You may not purchase or sell any of the Foundation Marks as an ad word or keyword from any search engine, marketplaces (including cloud), social media forum, or other online venue. You may not use any of the Foundation Marks in advertising, marketing, or promotional materials.

Alteration or Modification of Marks. You may not alter or modify any of the Foundation Marks in any way.

Disparaging Uses. You may not use any of the Foundation Marks in a way that is defamatory, libelous, obscene, unlawful, or otherwise disparaging or in any way that would dilute, tarnish, or otherwise conflicts with the Foundation’s ability to use and/or enforce its rights in its trademarks or copyrighted works, even if such use is under a license.

Use of Confusingly Similar Marks & Translations. You may not use any trademark or service mark that is likely to be confused with any of the Foundation Marks in your company’s name, product or service name, publication title, conference title, website name, domain name, social media handle, or other source-identifying material or otherwise give the impression of affiliation with or endorsement by the Foundation. You may not use abbreviations or translations of any of the Foundation Marks. You may not use logos, designs, or stylizations that incorporate design elements of, or look similar to, logos, designs, or stylizations of the Foundation Marks.

Use of Copyrighted Content. You may not use or display any of the Foundation’s content, including images, text, audio, video, or media in any other format, for any purpose, including for use with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blog posts, or videos.

The foregoing list is not intended to be exhaustive, and other uses may be prohibited.

General Usage Guidelines

The following usage guidelines apply to properly authorized use of the Foundation Marks. Nothing herein should be interpreted to negate the requirement that all use of the Foundation Marks requires the prior approval of the Foundation.

Trademark Notices. When using the Foundation Marks, properly designate the status of the Foundation Marks by using the correct trademark symbol (® or ™) reflecting the Foundation’s ownership of particular marks as set forth below. Also include an attribution of the Foundation’s ownership in the following format at the bottom of the first page where you use a Foundation Mark: “___ is a trademark of The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation.”

Use Trademarks as Adjectives. The Foundation’s trademarks are meant to be used as singular adjectives, may not be used as nouns or verbs, and may not be made possessive. Using a trademark as a noun or verb can dilute the Foundation’s trademark and weaken its ability to serve as a source identifier for the Foundation’s products and services. You should use the Foundation Marks only as an adjective followed by the generic category name of the product or service.

Notice of Infringement. If you become aware of any infringing activity relating to the Foundation Marks, please promptly provide written notice to the Foundation. Please include a description of the infringing activity, the location of the alleged infringement (e.g. the applicable website), the name of the alleged infringer (if known), and the specific Foundation Marks that are being infringed.

Permitted Uses

Foundation Marks may be used to communicate compatibility or interoperability of software or products with the Foundation’s products and services without the prior written approval of the Foundation. Notwithstanding this authorization, the Foundation reserves the right to terminate the authorization set forth herein at any time in its sole discretion. Permitted use of the Foundation Marks remains subject to these Guidelines, including but not limited to the General Usage Guidelines.

Any assertion of capability or interoperability must: (1) be accurate and not misleading; (2) avoid confusion regarding the source of the products and services; (3) avoid any implication that software or products are sponsored or endorsed by the Foundation.

The following are examples of proper and improper usage of the Foundation Marks to communicate compatibility or interoperability:¹

Correct: <your product name> for <Foundation Mark>
Correct: <your product/company name> plug-in for <Foundation Mark>
Correct: <your product name> compatible with <Foundation Mark>
Correct: <your product name> for use with <Foundation Mark>
Correct: Quick Start for <Foundation Mark> by <your company name>

Incorrect: <Foundation Mark> <your product name>
Incorrect: <Foundation Mark> by <your company name>
Incorrect: <Foundation Mark> – <your product name>
Incorrect: <your product/company name> – <Foundation Mark>
Incorrect: <Foundation Mark> Quick Start by <your company name>

The Foundation Marks should never be used in a way that could cause anyone wrongly to believe that your products or services are offered, endorsed, or sponsored by the Foundation. You may link to the Foundation’s content as long as you do not commercialize the links.

Use of Foundation Marks by Active Principal Sponsors

Active Principal Sponsors of the Foundation are granted broad rights to use the Foundation Marks. For example, Principal Sponsors are not subject to the strict “Permitted Uses” set forth above, Principal Sponsors may include the Foundation Marks in the names of their products and services provided the products and/or services are directly related to a Foundation project, and Principal Sponsors may include the Foundation Marks in their advertising, marketing and promotional materials, and merchandise. Any use of the Foundation Marks or reference to the Foundation by a Principal Sponsor must be true and not misleading. For example, a Principal Sponsor may not make an untrue claim of contribution, ownership, or control of the Foundation or its projects.

If you are interested in sponsoring the Foundation, please reach out to sponsor@resf.org.

Foundation Marks and Logos

The following is an illustrative, non-exhaustive list of marks and logos owned by the Foundation. Because this list of marks and logos and their status could change over time, including as the Foundation adds new products and services, please review this section in these Guidelines periodically. Please note that the absence of a product or service name or logo from the list below does not constitute a waiver of the Foundation’s intellectual property rights in that name or logo.

Questions, Comments, Concerns

If you have questions with respect to these Guidelines or to report concerns regarding the use or misuse of a Foundation Mark, or to obtain written permission for a proposed use of a Foundation Mark, contact: hello@resf.org.

Disclaimer

The Foundation does not make any express or implied warranties with respect to the Foundation Marks, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of any third-party intellectual property rights. Any use of the Foundation Marks is “as-is.” By using the Foundation Marks, you expressly acknowledge and agree that you assume all risks associated with such use, and you release the Foundation from any and all liability for any such risks. You further acknowledge and agree that the Foundation shall not be liable for any claims or damages arising out of or in connection with your use of the Foundation Marks. In consideration of being granted permission to use the Foundation Marks, you hereby agree to indemnify, defend, and hold the Foundation and its contributors harmless against any claims, demands, losses, damages, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Foundation Marks.

The compatibility and interoperability usage guidelines are modeled from the LF Projects, LLC Trademark Policy available at https://lfprojects.org/policies/trademark-policy/ ↩