Voice Commerce Group Trademark and Logo Usage Requirements August 2008

Introduction

Voice Commerce Group trademarks are intellectual property, with value both to us at Voice Commerce Group and to our community of customers, developers, partners, and supporters.

Trademarks are words or symbols (and less commonly colors, sounds or scents) used to identify the source of products, technologies, programs and services, enabling customers to distinguish one provider's offerings from another's. When we say "products" in these guidelines, we mean all types of offerings, ranging from commercial products and services to open source and free software and informational web sites. Trademark law protects the public's ability to rely on trademarks for information about product source and quality, requiring trademark owners to take steps to police proper use of their marks We provide these Voice Commerce Group Trademark and Logo Usage Requirements ("guidelines") as part of a comprehensive program to satisfy this obligation, and to help you and all of our community members make proper use of our marks consistent with these guidelines and the law.

These guidelines are for anyone using or referencing Voice Commerce Group’s trademarks, particularly users outside of Voice Commerce Group.

Overview of Trademark Law

We are providing a general overview of trademark law to help you understand the guiding principles and goals of these guidelines. This summary and the guidelines are not legal advice.

What does trademark law protect? Trademark law protects the public's ability to rely on trademarks for information about the source and quality of products, services, programs and technologies. To protect the public from misleading or confusing information, the law requires trademark owners to monitor proper use of their marks and to "police" against use of identical or closely similar marks for similar goods, services, programs or technologies. Trademarks are compared based on similarities or differences in sight (visual appearance), sound, and meaning, as well as other factors such as whether the products are related. A mark that looks similar, sounds similar, or has a similar meaning to an established mark and that is used on similar products might be an infringement.

Not all uses of a trademark result in potential confusion. Voice Commerce Group allows and even encourages many "fair uses" of its trademarks.

What is a service mark? A "service mark" is a trademark that indicates the source of a service or program, rather than a product. For example, Voice Transact is currently a trademark when it identifies a software service, while ON4 is a service mark because it identifies a software product. In these guidelines, we use the term "trademark" to refer to both trademarks and service marks. Many trademarks, like Voice Transact, apply to a wide spectrum of offerings, including both products and services, from the same source.

What is trade dress? "Trade dress" describes a collection of attributes or features of a product or service (often its overall presentation) and/or its packaging. Trade dress can include color palettes, patterns and textures of material or packaging, or other thematic elements that collectively indicate the source of the product or service to the public.

What is a fair use? Referring to someone else's trademark in a way that does not confuse the public or tarnish the mark may qualify as "fair use." Examples include discussions of a product by name in a news article, product review, or comparative advertising. To make a "fair use," you must accurately identify the original product or service without misleading the public about its source or its affiliation with your own products or services. Using someone else's trademark as the name of your own product or service (including freeware or free information services) is never fair use. U.S. and E. U. law does not recognize any fair use of logos. If you want to use one of our logos, you will need a permission or license.
All of our logos are available from here

How do owners establish trademark rights? In the U.S. and E,U and some other countries that recognize "common law" rights, an owner can establish trademark rights simply by using a mark in connection with products or services. (No rights will be established if the mark infringes an existing, or senior, mark.) 

What is an infringement? Infringement occurs when someone (the "junior user") uses a trademark that is identical or confusingly similar to an existing trademark (the "senior trademark") owned by a senior user, on similar goods, services, products or technologies without permission or a license from the senior user. Courts use many factors to evaluate the likelihood that the public would be confused about the source of either trademark user's products or the relationship between the two trademark owners. The infringement can be intentional, e.g., when the junior user is counterfeiting goods, or inadvertent, e.g., when the junior user is trying to make fair use, but doesn't satisfy all the legal requirements

What is required for a trademark license? A trademark owner may license the use of a trademark to other companies or individuals for use on their own products. The license agreement must allow the trademark owner the right to control the quality of the licensee's products by setting and enforcing quality standards.

How can you trademark words in the dictionary? It all depends on how close the trademark owner's products are to the dictionary definition. For example, apples (the fruit) do not have anything to do with computers, so Apple is a distinctive, strong mark for computer products and services, identifying one unique source of those products and services. The mark Apple would be a little less strong, but still protectable for the hypothetical company, Apple Healthcare because there is a logical association between apples and health (the saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"). Since the word "apple" does not directly describe health care services, it can still identify one unique source of those services. No fruit grower, however, could claim exclusive trademark rights in the name "apple" for its fruit. "Apple" is a generic term in that industry and is not protectable as a trademark. It does not identify any unique source of the fruit. For this reason, no one apple grower can trademark the word "apple" and prevent competitors and other members of the industry from using it in their company and product names.

Overview of Voice Commerce Group Trademark Guidelines

Please follow these guidelines in making use of our marks. A list of our trademarks can be found at

1. Trademarks are adjectives. Use them, at least in your initial and most prominent references and otherwise as needed for clarity, with generic nouns that identify a Voice Commerce Group product, technology, program, or service. For example, use "Engage technology" or "the Voice Transact payment system" instead of using "Engage" or "Voice Transact" on its own.


2. Voice Commerce Group trademarks cannot be included in the name of any third party product, technology, program or service. This includes free and educational materials, open source distributions, and the titles of informational web sites. Have fun and come up with a creative new name for your product!


3. Mark and attribute Voice Commerce Group trademarks. When making fair use of Voice Commerce Group trademarks, mark and attribute them as outlined in these Guidelines.


4. You may only use Voice Commerce Group logos by permission. To find out more about Voice Commerce Groups logo programs and to apply for a license, click here

Keeping Voice Commerce Group trademarks strong helps our entire community. Please let us know if you see our trademarks used in a way that does not conform to these guidelines. For Voice Commerce Group privacy notice, click here

Naming and Presentation of Products and Services Including Web sites

Trademark law applies equally to commercial products and services and to offerings that are free, not for profit, educational, or purely informational. Including a Voice Commerce Group trademark in the name of a product or service not from Voice Commerce Group can confuse consumers and violate the law. The following guidelines explain in greater detail when and how you can use Voice Commerce Group trademarks in relation to your products.

Sight, Sound, and Meaning: Trademark protection extends to its sight, sound and meaning. Do not adopt a trademark that has a similar look, sound, or meaning to a Voice Commerce Group trademark.

1. DO come up with a unique and compelling name for your product, or simply choose a purely descriptive name. It's always a good idea to get an independent legal opinion about the availability of the name you choose.
2. DO NOT adopt similar looking, sounding, or meaning trademarks, such as a) a logo of a chart because it looks similar to the Cashflows logo or b) "Buzzta" because it sounds like Busta.

Descriptions of Your Products: You may use a separate, explanatory phrase or tag line after your product name that describes how your product ("product" here and throughout the guidelines includes services, technologies and programs, as well as freeware, open source distributions and web sites) relates to one of Voice Commerce Groups. When you do so, be sure that a) the source of each product is clear, b) the statement is accurate and not misleading, c) the Voice Commerce Group trademark is used less prominently than your trademark, d) you use the Voice Commerce Group trademark as an adjective followed by a generic noun, and e) you follow the marking and attribution rules set forth in these guidelines.

1. DO include a Voice Commerce Group trademark to describe how your product or service relates to a Voice Commerce Group product or service, as in "Acme Software for the Engage™ platform" or "Acme Implementation service for the Voice Transact™ payment service"
2. DO NOT include a Voice Commerce Group trademark in the name of your product or service, as in "Acme Engage Software" or "Acme Voice Transact Implementation."
3. DO include a tag line after the title to explain your web site's relevance to Voice Commerce Group products or services, as in "Acme Programming Guide, a resource for Engage™ developers." or "Acme Guide to the Engage™ Unified Communications platform."
4. DO NOT include a Voice Commerce Group trademark in the title of your web site, as in "Acme Engage Guide."

Marking: When you use one of our trademarks, properly mark and attribute it to help minimize the risk of consumer confusion. On each document incorporating one of our marks, place the ™ symbol directly following our marks where this is displayed in plain text. Use the circle-R symbol (®) when marking Voice Commerce Group trademarks that are shown with this registration.

1. DO properly mark Voice Commerce Group trademarks, as in "Voice Transact™ payment system, Engage™ unified communications platform."
2. DO NOT claim rights in the whole phrase that includes a Voice Commerce Group trademark, as in "Acme Security Software, Engage edition™."

Attribution Notice/Legal Notice: Unless you have an agreement with Voice Commerce Group that says something else, attribute our trademarks using the following notice: "Voice Commerce Group, the Voice Pay® Logo [insert all other Voice Commerce Groups trademarks referenced in the document] are trademarks or registered trademarks of Voice Commerce Group Limited,  in the United States, European Union and other countries."

1. DO include a notice on a single page, linked from all pages that contain Voice Commerce Group trademarks (such as with a “legal" or "trademarks" link in the footer) if you are working on the web. For printed materials, place the notice in an appropriate location with other legal notices (e.g., on the title page of a book, in the footnotes of a white paper, on the last slide of a presentation, etc.).
2. DO NOT rely on a web footer link to provide attribution for downloadable documents and software downloads that are posted on that site. Because they will ultimately be viewed separately from that attribution, they must contain their own notice.

Trade Dress: Voice Commerce Group trade dress may not be used by third parties for their own products or web sites. Take care to ensure that your product line, packaging, advertising or web site does not adopt a look that is confusingly similar to any of Voice Commerce Group’s.

Code Names: Code names are popular in the software industry, to allow development teams to refer to their project before an official name is selected. Public use of code names can infringe the rights of a trademark owner if the code name includes another's trademarks. Increasingly, code names are used publicly on community software development efforts or in early access versions for testing. To be safe, avoid inclusion of other company's trademarks in your code names.

Use of Voice Commerce Group Logos

Third parties may not use any Voice Commerce Group logo for any purpose without a license to do so. This includes all Engage logos, the Voice Commerce Group corporate logo, and all other product and program logos.

Voice Commerce Group offers several programs that allow you to apply for a permission or license to use certain logos. For example, we have logos that indicate technological compatibility, conformance to specific requirements, membership in programs, alliances with Voice Commerce Group, and so on. Each is available for your use upon acceptance of your application.

If you are granted a license to use a Voice Commerce Group logo, you are provided with artwork, which you may not modify in any way, other than sizing it to fit appropriately in context. Unless your license specifically allows you to do so, you may not combine a Voice Commerce Group logo with other logos or artwork, or replace or remove a Voice Commerce Group logo from a product or service for resale.

Click here to find out more about logo programs and to apply for a license

Special Issues On The Web

Web Sites Are Services: Trademark law considers all web sites to be services – from e-commerce, to community sites, to blogs and personal home pages. The name you adopt for your your site is a trademark, regardless of whether the site is educational, free, non-commercial, or purely informational. Do not incorporate a Voice Commerce Group trademark into the name of your site.

Trademark Symbols on the Web: When using Voice Commerce Group trademarks on the web, you should follow your standard practice with respect to marking and attribution. If you mark or attribute any other third party trademarks, please do the same for Voice Commerce Groups and generate either the ™ character or ® in HTML code.

Domain Names, Registration and Use: So long as the web site adheres to the rest of these guidelines, use of a Voice Commerce Group trademark in a domain name is permitted with the following restrictions:

1. DO use a Voice Commerce Group trademark by itself as a file, folder, or path name, as in www.acme.com/Engage or www.acme.com/VoicePay.html.
2. DO NOT use a Voice Commerce Group trademark by itself in either the domain or host name, as in www.busta.com or busta.acme.com.
3. DO register the domain under your own name, or the name of a business entity that conforms to these guidelines.
4. DO NOT register the domain name using the domain name itself as the registrant name (see the following example).
5. DO refer to the domain name in your materials as an address or location on the web, as in plain text reading "Learn more about Acme Corp. by visiting www.acmebusta.com”.
6. DO NOT use the domain name as a name or title for the web site itself. For example, do not create headers or title graphics or include the domain name by itself, or text such as "Welcome to AcmeBusta.com."
7. DO include a legal notice containing the following text: "[Insert Voice Commerce Group trademark] is a trademark or registered trademark of Voice Commerce Group Limited, in the United States European Union and other countries. [Insert web site owner name] is independent of Voice Commerce Group Limited."
8. DO NOT register the domain name as a trademark with the U.S. Trademark Office or otherwise attempt to claim rights in the name, by presenting it with a ™ symbol.

Blogs and other Informal Content: We understand and embrace the fact that a variety of content on the Internet is informal, and that strict adherence to all of these guidelines may be inappropriate. If you operate an informal web site service such as a blog, you can use a conversational tone, in which you may not always use nouns or trademark symbols with Voice Commerce Group marks, and so on. To take advantage of this exception, please make sure that your site adheres to the rest of these guidelines.

You Tube, My Space, and other User-Contributed Content: You are responsible for content you submit to You Tube, My Space, Second Life, wikis, forums, and other user-contribution sites. If you create content for any online source, make sure that your use of Voice Commerce Group trademarks is consistent with these guidelines. Administrators of such sites are responsible for removing infringing content once it is identified. Making certain your content only makes appropriate use of Voice Commerce Group trademarks can help prevent it from being removed.

1. DO include truthful and accurate representations of Voice Commerce Group trademarks (such as a video clip that shows a Voice Commerce Group logo and product or service demonstration).
2. DO NOT include mock or parody products in your content with names based on Voice Commerce Group trademarks.
   
   

Special Rules for Publications, User Groups, and Conferences

As a technological innovator, Voice Commerce Group encourages and expects the community of developers, businesses, and other innovators to seek out and share information about Voice Commerce Group services and technologies. Voice Commerce Group trademarks will often be a natural part of these discussions. To facilitate this dialog, under the following circumstances, Voice Commerce Group word marks may be used in the titles of publications, user groups, and conferences. Please use word marks, e.g., Voice Transact, only. Please do not use our font, stylization or logos.

No Proprietary Names. Please do not incorporate other proprietary or commercial names in titles of publications, user groups or conferences that incorporate Voice Commerce Group trademarks. For example, do not use titles in the format, such as XYZ Corp Voice Pay Journal, Acme Busta User Group or ABC Co VoicePay Conference.

Follow All Other Rules: The exceptions for naming publications, user groups and conferences is only available if the rest of these guidelines are followed, including marking with symbols, attribution and use of nouns.

Publications: When using Voice Commerce Group word marks in naming publications, such as books or magazines, it is important that you do not create confusion as to source of your publication or any affiliation with Voice Commerce Group. The publisher's name should appear prominently in a location that is customary in the publishing industry. Magazines including a Voice Commerce Group trademark in the title should also include a generic term such as "magazine" or "journal," separated by a space. It is not necessary to include an extra noun that identifies the Voice Commerce Group product or service (e.g., "Busta Magazine" is acceptable; it is not necessary to say "Busta Software Magazine").

1. DO include a customary identification of the non-Voice Commerce Group source of your materials. For example, books typically include publisher information and logos on the spine and title page, which may be less physically prominent than the title.
2. DO NOT attempt to claim trademark rights in the whole name of your publication by marking it with a trademark symbol or applying for registration with a trademark office.
3. DO include the customary attribution of Voice Commerce Group trademark rights in an appropriate location.

User Groups. Using a term in the name such as "user group," "special interest group," "lobby," etc., makes clear the relationship between Voice Commerce Group and the group, and does not create confusion about the source of products. It is a fair use. In user group names, it is not necessary to include an extra noun that identifies the Voice Commerce Group product (e.g., "Busta User Group" is acceptable; it is not necessary to say "Busta Technology User Group"). It is also not necessary to use a space between Busta and the generic term identifying the group (i.e., "BustaUserGroup" is acceptable). These exceptions apply only to user groups that are not formally doing business as commercial entities. If you are administering a user group that includes a Voice Commerce Group trademark in its name:

1. DO NOT claim any trademark rights in the name or attempt to register the name or your logo with a trademark office;
2. DO NOT register the name as a trade name or business name, or conduct any business under the name (e.g., do not register domain names under your user name).

Conferences: When using Voice Commerce Group word marks in naming conferences, it is important to make sure not to create confusion as to source or affiliation. The Voice Commerce Group mark must not appear more prominently than the name of the conference producer, promoter or sponsor, and must refer to a Voice Commerce Group product or service.

1. DO use the Voice Commerce Group mark to identify a Voice Commerce Group product, as in "Acme Expo on Voice Transact™ Technology."
2. DO NOT use the Voice Commerce Group mark to identify your product or service, as in "Acme Voice Transact Expo," "Voice Transact Expo by Acme" or simply "Voice Transact Expo."
3. DO include a customary identification of the non- Voice Commerce Group source of your materials. Identify the publisher, promoter or sponsor prominently in appropriate locations.
4. DO NOT combine the Voice Commerce Group mark with any other words in your title, as in "BustaTech" or "BustaExpo," or attempt to claim trademark rights in the whole name by marking it with a trademark symbol or applying for registration with a trademark office.

Merchandise: Voice Commerce Group does not object to parties whose names include a Voice Commerce Group trademark as authorised by these guidelines producing limited runs of merchandise bearing their names under some circumstances. You may include your name on T-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads or other promotional items, so long as you do not make more than 200 units, or offer products for commercial sale.

Click here to Contact Voice Commerce Group Trademark and Legal Department