Comments on: WordPress and domains http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/ Using the internet to make government more interesting Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:22:05 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ShaneMcC http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/comment-page-1/#comment-2455 ShaneMcC Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:10:52 +0000 http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/#comment-2455 Imagine a year from now. Mr.Nasty launches a CMS called Wordpress. It's a pile of rubbish full of security holes. Automattic quite rightly go to court to try to stop Mr.Nasty. Mr Nasty's lawyer's argue that there is no trademark attached to Wordpress because everyone uses it. IIRC from my publishing days Mr Nasty would win and continue to ship his software under the Wordpress name. That's why Hoover protect their name (even though it is thought of and used as a generic), it's why Steliios overprotects Easy. Just because it is an open source project doesn't mean we should be happy with anyone using the name. Imagine a year from now. Mr.Nasty launches a CMS called Wordpress. It's a pile of rubbish full of security holes. Automattic quite rightly go to court to try to stop Mr.Nasty. Mr Nasty's lawyer's argue that there is no trademark attached to Wordpress because everyone uses it. IIRC from my publishing days Mr Nasty would win and continue to ship his software under the Wordpress name.

That's why Hoover protect their name (even though it is thought of and used as a generic), it's why Steliios overprotects Easy. Just because it is an open source project doesn't mean we should be happy with anyone using the name.

]]> By: MJ Ray http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/comment-page-1/#comment-2445 MJ Ray Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:31:47 +0000 http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/#comment-2445 "because people get confused and assume anything with "wordpress" in the domain is officially associated" - links, numbers and percentages, please? “because people get confused and assume anything with “wordpress” in the domain is officially associated” – links, numbers and percentages, please?

]]> By: NeilWilliams http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/comment-page-1/#comment-2410 NeilWilliams Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:43:04 +0000 http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/#comment-2410 With utmost respect to Matt and big love for Wordpress, I just don't think protectionism makes sense here. Wordpress.org and .com will surely have unbeatable search rankings and a solid enough SEM campaigns to remove any doubts about what is and is not official Wordpress content? And the "Would the website be any less effective if it was wpforgood" question applies in reverse, does it not? People don't pay that much attention to domain names and could still be hoodwinked by a well put together site. With utmost respect to Matt and big love for Wordpress, I just don't think protectionism makes sense here. Wordpress.org and .com will surely have unbeatable search rankings and a solid enough SEM campaigns to remove any doubts about what is and is not official Wordpress content? And the "Would the website be any less effective if it was wpforgood" question applies in reverse, does it not? People don't pay that much attention to domain names and could still be hoodwinked by a well put together site.

]]> By: photomatt http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/comment-page-1/#comment-2405 photomatt Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:11:12 +0000 http://davepress.net/2008/12/23/wordpress-and-domains/#comment-2405 It's been our policy for I think close to 3 years now. We did it because people get confused and assume anything with "wordpress" in the domain is officially associated, see the fiasco with the wordpress direct guys recently for a good example. It actually has no overlap with the Firefox/Debian issues, and WordPress is in Debian with no problems. Would the website be any less effective if it was wpforgood? It's been our policy for I think close to 3 years now. We did it because people get confused and assume anything with "wordpress" in the domain is officially associated, see the fiasco with the wordpress direct guys recently for a good example. It actually has no overlap with the Firefox/Debian issues, and WordPress is in Debian with no problems. Would the website be any less effective if it was wpforgood?

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