kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Clemens Koller <cko@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi!

On 2018-04-11 16:06, jp charras wrote:
> I am fine to register Kicad under CERN.
> (I am not especially interested in having it under my name.)

I am wondering if there might be legal difficulties in the case of trademark enforcement procedures, because of some "special" legal state of CERN owning the trademark.

The german Wikipedia page says:
Das CERN befindet sich auf schweizerischem und französischem Staatsgebiet; daher gilt kein nationales Recht. 
"No national law applies" could be either difficult or beneficial for KiCad in the case of an infringement.

A different idea might be to found i.e. a (non-profit) Limited ((gemeinnützige) GmbH) and have the Limited holding all the rights.
Several people (developers) can then be a "Gesellschafter" (shareholder or partner) of the GmbH.

Maybe it's good to ask a lawyer with focus on international intelectual property law for a hint.

Regards,

Clemens