Re: 9.5 Release press coverage

On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 9:11 AM, Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
>> I'd really like to understand what wording would be found acceptable
>> to the community. I think it's natural for a press release put out by
>> a company to begin with the name of that company. The press release
>> says in the first sentence that the release was made by the PostgreSQL
>> community.
>
> The first sentence says that EDB is announcing the PostgreSQL 9.5 release,
> which it has no right to do.
>
> Presumably if 2ndQuadrant makes press announcements about the next version
> of PPAS, offering people to contact 2ndQuadrant for more information, I
> would expect to receive a strongly worded letter. The objection probably
> wouldn't focus on which verbs were acceptable, it would be an objection
> based upon improper use of a trademark, which is exactly what is happening
> here.

As far as I know, and IANAL, everything you just said is wrong. If it
were actually illegal to use somebody else's trademark in a press
release you put out, business communication would become very
difficult. We talk about how we've added features to PPAS that
provide compatibility with Oracle, and it is my understanding that
this is quite legal, even though "Oracle" is not a trademark of
EnterpriseDB. I believe that if 2ndQuadrant wants to support PPAS,
there is no legal way for EnterpriseDB to stop 2ndQuadrant from
offering that service. I also believe that 2ndQuadrant is legally,
morally, and in every other way entitled to announce that it will be
providing services around PPAS, as long as you don't claim you created
it. Heck, I'm not even sure EnterpriseDB would be opposed to the
creation of such a service, since the customer would still have to pay
the license fee. If 2ndQuadrant enters the business of helping PPAS
users avoid paying their license fees, and EnterpriseDB's legal team
finds out about it, then, yes, you will be getting a strongly worded
letter about that. But that will not be about trademark.

Now, when it comes to PostgreSQL, EnterpriseDB not only helped create
it, but also distributes the software, employs core team members and
committers, sponsors conferences, and in many other ways contributes
to the PostgreSQL community. We have just as much right to use that
word as anybody else. It would be extraordinary if, despite
contributing so much to the PostgreSQL community and to the PostgreSQL
9.5 release, EnterpriseDB were not allowed to talk about that software
release.

>> If EnterpriseDB is making false statements, then it is
>> entirely right for people to be upset about that, but our press
>> release does not do that. I have read that press release several
>> times from top to bottom and I do not see a single statement in there
>> that is false or claims credit for anybody else's work. Period.
>
> Everything is implied, but overall it is very clearly misleading people to
> think that the PostgreSQL brand is controlled by EDB.
>
> I oppose that viewpoint, from any company that tries to suggest it.

I think every single PostgreSQL company tries to suggest that it is
the best PostgreSQL company with whom to do business. I would expect
nothing else.

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company