News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their name and trademark. Parent comment

Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by oefrha on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @02:13AM (#29250024)
Very few non-corporate FOSS projects would have the funds to file a trademark, especially an international one considering one can be infringed from anywhere around the world. And time spent on filing would be time not advancing the actual project, unless a lawyer is hired, which makes it even more expensive.

Even fewer would have the resources to actually pursue legal action if the trademark is infringed upon.

This is probably not a realistic suggestion for all but a few hundred projects.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by ghaff on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @08:47AM (#29252874)
IANAL.

Trademarks don't need to be registered and many trademarks simply exist through active use.

However, your second paragraph is the key one. While trademarks don't need to be registered (and, in any case, trademark registrations are mostly on a country by country basis) it's pretty much on you to spend the money to defend your trademark if you want to do so. No one's going to do it for you.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by 0xy on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @02:30AM (#29250109)
It costs less than $2,500 to file trademarks in the US, EU and UK which is plenty of coverage. OBS has received hundreds of thousands in funding, from YouTube, Twitch and Facebook as well as smaller patrons.

Maybe $5,000 if you're talking about high-touch legal help or the trademarks are dicey.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by rolandog on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @03:42AM (#29250452)
$2,500 would be about the average monthly gross income of a person earning $15/hr. And in terms of expendable income, that's an order of magnitude away of what people can shell out.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by cpuguy83 on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @03:19AM (#29250322)
It costs significantly more to defend your trademark. Registering your trademark is pointless if you can't also defend it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by eloeffler on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @06:41AM (#29251704)
Doesn't it at least protect you from someone else registering it and then suing you?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by foepys on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @07:40AM (#29252274)
Not really. Registering, yes, but you can sue anybody at any time. You might lose but it doesn't prevent you from suing.

If you hold a trademark you are obligated to defend it. If you don't others can void it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by pdpi on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @08:20AM (#29252607)
> but you can sue anybody at any time

This is enough of a problem that anti-SLAPP laws have been passed in several jurisdictions. Those laws only go so far, though (and you still need to mount a defence of some description)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by oefrha on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @02:42AM (#29250156)
OBS is the #10 most popular project on Open Collective[1] (plus other donations), so yeah, it is one of the top-earning FOSS projects that can afford it.

[1] https://opencollective.com/discover

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by iaxx on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @08:07AM (#29252493)
When StreamLabs came out with SLOBS, OBS didn't even have an OpenCollective or Patreon. They were still getting off the ground.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by erk__ on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @03:11AM (#29250274)
Including $50,000 from the owners of Streamlabs, Logitech
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by Warchamp7 on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @03:40AM (#29250439)
For what it's worth, Logitech made that contribution well before they bought Streamlabs
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by skeeter2020 on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @08:34AM (#29252731)
Maybe they too were confused and thought they were cutting a cheque to a subsidary, not a different OS project? ;)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by erk__ on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @05:48AM (#29251325)
Interesting it was transferred in May 2019 and they bought Streamlabs in September 2019. I had not seen that.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The OBS project has accused Streamlabs of copying their n... by dpatterbee on Wednesday November 17, 2021 @06:23AM (#29251558)
Perhaps they were confused about the association between projects as well.
[ Parent | on HN ]