14 DAY TRIAL // The conflict between The GNOME Foundation and Groupon erupted today when it was revealed that the GNOME trademark was being disputed by both parties. Now, it looks like Groupon is taking a step back and recognizing the impact of what it's doing.
Update [November 11, 2014, later]: Groupon is abandoning the Gnome name for its tablet and it has made an official announcement.
"After additional conversations with the open source community and the Gnome Foundation, we have decided to abandon our pending trademark applications for 'Gnome'. We will choose a new name for our product going forward."
The GNOME Foundation showed today that it was in legal battle with Groupon over the GNOME trademark, which has belonged to the former since 2006. This multi-billion dollar company is working on a tablet software for merchants and businesses that has the Gnome name, but the problem is that it's already trademarked. Some consultations took place between the two entities, but Groupon chose to file for its own trademarks and not deal with the actual owner.
The trademarks are a problematic issue, especially if you are a non-profit organization that has to defend its property against a much bigger company that has all the resources behind it. The foundation is now looking for money to help it in the legal battle and it's had great support from the community. It was initially looking for $80,000 (€65,000) until December 3, 2014, but it has already managed to get 25% of that sum in the first day alone.
Groupon might be backing down
The blowback from the Linux community has been tremendous and Groupon's representatives must have realized that this entire discussion is not doing them any favors, and from the looks of it, they could be taking a step back.
"There is some recent confusion around Groupon’s intended use of a product name that the Gnome Foundation believes infringes on their trademarks."
"We love open source at Groupon. We have open sourced a number of projects on Groupon github. Our relationship with the open source community is more important to us than a product name. We’ve been communicating with the Gnome Foundation for months to try to come to a mutually satisfactory resolution, including alternative branding options, and we’re happy to continue those conversations. And if we can’t come up with a resolution, we’ll be glad to look for another name," says Sri Viswanath, senior vice president of Engineering and Operations for Groupon.
We've been in touch with The GNOME Foundation and it has not issued any statements regarding Groupon's new position, but it is overwhelmed by the support shown, not just in terms of funds raised.
For now, the entire legal situation is still unclear. Groupon may be showing signs that it is considering changing the name, but it should also withdraw the trademark applications to demonstrate that it is serious. Until then, users should still presume that this is going to court and that things will get messy.
