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just read the symbiostock EULA and there are MAJOR problems here:
SYMBIOSTOCK RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THESE GUIDELINES AT ANY TIME. YOU SHOULD PERIODICALLY CHECK THESE GUIDELINES TO BE SURE THAT YOU ARE IN COMPLIANCE.
PLEASE READ THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING SOFTWARE FROM SYMBIOSTOCK. BY USING SYMBIOSTOCK SOFTWARE, YOU SIGNIFY YOUR ASSENT TO AND ACCEPTANCE OF THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT AND ACKNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE TERMS.
so we’re required to not only accept the terms currently in place but ALSO agree to any terms that might be added in the future??? who is going tosign such a blank check??? what happens to symbiostock sites that don’t agree to changed terms?
2. Intellectual Property Rights. The Programs and each of their components are owned by Symbiostock and are protected under copyright law and under other laws as applicable. Title to the Programs and any component, or to any copy, modification, or merged portion shall remain with Symbiostock, subject to the applicable license. The “Symbiostock” trademark and the “Hummingbird” logo are trademarks of Symbiostock.
how can anyone retroactively trademark ‘symbiostock’ after it’s been in use for over 2 years???? what about existing addons, themes, global searches and symbiostock sites themselves that use ‘symbiostock’?
This end user license agreement (“EULA”) governs the use of any of the versions of Symbiostock and any related updates, source code, appearance, structure and organization (the “Programs”), regardless of the delivery mechanism.this seems to put a claim to include existing instances of symbiostock!!!
even worse are parts of the trademark document that seek to claim rights that would include pre-existing software, applications and websites – and again, claiming that these rights can be changed at ANY TIME
‘Fair Use’ of Trademarks
The Symbiostock name and Symbiostock logo may be used in unmodified distributions of Symbiostock as found on the Symbiostock website. The Symbiostock website must be linked or referenced to when using the Symbiostock name or logo. The Symbiostock name and Symbiostock logo may also be used in skinned versions of Symbiostock for the purpose of promoting the Symbiostock project.symbiostock original REQUESTED but did not require site owners to include such links. even if existing sites/uses are grandfathered in, there is nothing to protect such sites from revoking those rights at a later time
Our focus with the new Symbiostock is success. Success for contributors, success for the brand, and growth in a contributor owned marketplace. In order to achieve this, we need to make sure that third parties don’t claim affiliation with the project when no affiliation exists. Leaving use of the logo wide open would allow anyone to release plugins, create websites, and claim to be the ‘Official Symbiostock’ something or other.
These terms are synonymous with nearly every open source project out there, whether it be WordPress, Redhat, WooCommerce, or the like.
It is also important to understand fully how the GPL works, and especially how that reflects in our policies. The terms you’ve mentioned are focused mostly on the brand name, not the software itself. You are free to take the plugin once it is released and change it, rebrand it, and release it. You can use it all you want, and never link to Symbiostock. This is not a requirement, at all.
Lastly, our goal is not to restrict genuine or legacy users of Symbiostock. If this were the case, we wouldn’t be releasing this as a completely free plugin. The goal is to, in fact, protect the community from third parties that might dilute the brand with malicious or negligent intent. If we did not protect the brand, for example, and Symbiostock became popular, you would have lots of people releasing “Symbiostock Official Themes” that have nothing to do with us, that may have malicious code, that may in fact compromise your entire install.
It is important that all users, new and old, are able to differentiate between software endorsed by the developers of Symbiostock and software created by third parties. As open source projects get more and more popular, it is the official websites and the brand name that permits users to sift through all the 3rd party software that gets released.
you didn’t actually ADDRESS any of the concerns mentioned – you are claiming the unilateral rights to
symbiostock’ and at the same time requiring users to agree IN ADVANCE to any changes in terms you may decide to add later — that doesn’t fly.
most importantly, you CANNOT claim a trademark to a mark that has been in prior use for 2 YEARS before you appeared on the scene
all we hear is ‘trust me’ but there is no record to back this up — if your goal truly is to guarantee the rights of legacy users, that needs to be stated as a clear exception to your claimed right to change anything you want at any time – at the very least, existing sites should be grandfathered to use the term symbiostock as they have been doing for 2 years with NO possibility you may decide to revoke that at a later date. your posts are disingenuous since you claim to want to play nice, but your EULA & trademark agreements are ridiculously restrictive and dangerous
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