CMS Made Simple Trademark Use Policy

The objective of the CMS Made Simple (CMSMS) Trademark Use Policy is to encourage use of the CMSMS trademarks by the CMSMS community for non-commercial purposes, while regulating that use in order to avoid confusion on the part of CMSMS users and the general public, to maintain the value of the image and reputation of the trademarks and to protect them from inappropriate or unauthorised use.

The sections below describe what uses are allowed, what uses aren't allowed, and cases in which you need to obtain permission before using a trademark.

The Trademarks

Ted Kulp, and The CMS Made Simple Development Team (The Dev Team) own a number of trademarks, including "CMS Made Simple", "CMSMS", the CMS Made Simple logo, and the Palm Tree Logo. This policy encompasses these and other marks, in word and logo form, owned by or licensed to "The Dev Team", collectively referred to as "Trademarks".

Permitted Use

Certain usages of the Trademarks do not require that you obtain prior written permission from The Dev Team:

• Community Advocacy:

  We share access to the Trademarks with the CMSMS community for the purposes of discussion, development and advocacy. We recognise that most of the open source discussion and development areas are for non-commercial purposes and will allow the use of the trademarks in this context, provided:

  • * The Trademark is used in a manner consistent with the guidelines set forth below.
  • * There is no commercial intent behind, or benefit from the use.
  • * The use of the Trademark does not lend itself to causing confusion for users or the public.
  • * There is no suggestion (through words or appearance) that your project is approved by, sponsored by, or affiliated with The Dev Team, its trademark licensees, or their related projects unless it actually has been approved by The Dev Team.

• Building for CMSMS:

  If you are producing a product which is intended for use with CMSMS, you may use the CMSMS trademark in a way which indicates the intent of your product. For example, if you are developing a widgenator tool for CMSMS, an acceptable project title would be "Widgenator for CMSMS". You may not uses names such as "CMSMS Widgenator", "CMSMS Widgenator Tool", etc. without first obtaining permission from us, as such names are problematic and may constitute a violation of trademark law. Furthermore, you may not use the Trademarks in a way which implies an endorsement where one doesn't exist, or which attempts to unfairly or confusingly capitalise on the goodwill or brand of CMSMS, The Dev Team, or it's trademarks.

• Commentary and Parody:

  Using the Trademarks in your discussion, commentary, criticism or parody, in ways that unequivocally do not imply endorsement, is permissible. For example, anyone is free to write articles, blog about, or talk about CMSMS -- as long as it's clear to everyone (including people completely unfamiliar with CMSMS) -- that they are simply referring to CMSMS and are in no way speaking for the CMS Made Simple project, The Dev Team, or its trademark licensees.

We reserve the right to review all usage within the open source community, and to object to any usage that appears to overstep the bounds of discussion and good-faith non-commercial development. In any event, once a project has left the open source project phase or otherwise becomes a commercial project, this policy does not authorize any use of the Trademarks in connection to that project.

Restricted Uses That Require a Trademark License

Express written permission from The Dev Team is necessary to use any of the Trademarks under any circumstances other than those specifically permitted above. These include:

• * Any commercial use.
• * Any derivative works of products associated with trademarks owned by or licensed to The Dev Team
• * Use on or in relation to a software product that includes or is built on top of a product supplied by The Dev Team or its trademark licensees, if there is any commercial intent associated with that product.
• * Use in a domain name or URL, with the exception of URLS used for the purposes of separating an install of CMSMS into a folder for testing and site development purposes.
• * Use for merchandising or marketing purposes, e.g. on t-shirts.
• * Use of a name which includes the terms CMSMS or CMS Made Simple in relation to computer hardware or software.
• * Services relating to any of the above.

If you wish to request permission for any of the uses above or for any other use which is not specifically referred to in this policy, please contact us and we'll let you know as soon as possible if your proposed use is permissible. Permission may only be granted subject to certain conditions, which may include the requirement that you enter into an agreement with us to maintain the quality of the product and/or service which you intend to supply at a prescribed level.

While there may be exceptions, it is very unlikely that The Dev Team will approve the use of its Trademarks in the following cases:

• * Use of a Trademark in a company or legal entity name.
• * Use of a Trademark in a domain name which has a commercial intent. The commercial intent can range from promotion of a company, product, service, or event, to collecting revenue generated by advertising.
• * The calling of any software or product by the name CMSMS, CMS Made Simple, or another related Trademark.
• * Use in combination with any other marks or logos. This includes use of a Trademark in a manner that creates a "combined mark," or use that integrates other wording with the Trademark in a way that the public may think of the use as a new mark (for example Advanced CMSMS or CMSMS-Pro, or in a way that by use of special fonts or presentation with nearby words or images conveys an impression that the two are related in some manner).
• * Use in combination with any product or service which is presented as being Certified or Official or formally associated with products or services provided by The Dev Team or its trademark licensees.
• * Use in a way which implies an endorsement where one doesn't exist, or which attempts to unfairly or confusingly capitalise on the goodwill or brand of the project.
• * Use of a Trademark in a manner that disparages The Dev Team, its trademark licensees, or their products and is not clearly a third-party parody.
• * On or in relation to a software product which constitutes a modified version of a product supplied by The Dev Team or its trademark licensees.
• * In a title or metatag of a web page with the intention of, or which results in, influencing search engine rankings or result listings, for purposes other than discussion, advocacy, or licensed development of products and services relating to the Trademarks.

Logo Usage Guidelines:

Our logos are presented in multiple colours and it is important that their visual integrity be maintained. It is therefore preferable that the logos only be used in their standard form but if you should feel the need to alter them in any way you should keep the following guidelines in mind. It should also be borne in mind that the more you wish to vary our logos from their standard form the smaller is the chance that we will be able to approve your proposed use.

• * If presented in multiple colours, the logo should only use the official logo colours.
• * You may use transparency and gradient/depth tools but should retain the official colours.
• * A monochrome version may be acceptable in certain situations, if the use requires it (e.g. desktop backgrounds).
• * Any scaling must retain the original proportions of the logo.

Additionally, we may from time to time provide special purpose logos for our partners and various licensees that describe an approved relationship with The Dev Team. These logos may only be used within by the authorized licensee within the terms provided to them and must also follow the trademark usage policy above.

Contact Information:

For all questions and inquiries relating to trademarks, please contact us via email at trademarks@cmsmadesimple.org

These trademark use restrictions and guidelines are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license and are based off the Ubuntu trademark policy. You are welcome to base your own trademark policies off it. If you do, let others use your changes and give credit to the Ubuntu project as the original source.