[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] FFmpeg Foundation

[Ivo]

On Thursday 29 October 2009, 02:32:57, Ronald S. Bultje wrote:
> On Oct 28, 2009, at 8:09 PM, Ivo <ivop at euronet.nl> wrote:
> > - How about copyrights? Have you considered trying to have
> > contributors
> > (past and present) to sign-over their copyright to this foundation?
>
> Won't happen (most devs would never agree to that), and makes it
> legally very risky (single point of attack for patent trolls a la
> mpegla, etc). The org will assist, not legally represent FFmpeg devs.

That's good to hear!

> > - Also, probably a separate issue, but it's something I have thought
> > about
> > in the past, are you considering registering FFmpeg as a trademark?
>
> Good point, didn't someone do that already though? If not, we could
> certainly consider that. What goal would it serve?

It protects our name against abuse by third parties and users would know 
wether they deal with the real thing or not. We could define a set of rules 
describing when and how the FFmpeg name and logo may be used, i.e. in 
magazines, television shows, by other open source applications and for 
commercial use, similar to for example the Mozilla Firefox trademark.

Regards,
--Ivo