I said 'devalued', not 'deprecated'. The value in the 'Zope' brand name lies mostly in the fact that it is a popular open source project. If you change the name of the community and the software, you face 2-3 years of getting back the critical mass of name recognition (longer for some forms of brand-building, like book titles) while at the same time the meaning of the original name slowly shifts to 'proprietary version of (fill-in-the-blank)', or something similar. You can be charitable and add in the words 'value added' into that phrase, if you like. This gradually sucks all the real value (as in value proposition) out of the name, other than basic name recognition. There isn't much you can do to change how that would work out, it's a natural consequence of the name change.
Like it or not, Digital Creations was *not* able to build it's own brand without piggybacking on the Zope name, and if the project were now to change it's name then Zope Corporation would face a slow slide back to obscurity. Not *all* the way back, mind you (all those old articles still on the web), but definitely less than they have today.
This would be a royal pain over the 2-3 year period for independent consultants, whose value proposition is in being 'Zope experts', but a medium-term (1-year) boost for other value added vendors and projects, including Plone, Enfold, Nuxeo, Infrae, etc.
Please don't misunderstand me, this is worthy of consideration as a long-term solution if no other agreement can be reached. But the potential costs must be understood by everyone concerned, and it would be far better for everyone if Zope Corporation were instead to transfer the trademark to the foundation and receive a perpetual/irrevocable/etc. license back.
+1
Posted bychrismat
2005-06-30 03:39 PM
I think the reverse-assignment idea is the best. But that appears to have zero traction at ZC. I believe that they believe that owning the trademark has a value that trumps any other possible arrangement. I can't imagine that the idea of changing the name of the software has any *more* traction than TM assignment, but it's something to at least start a discussion with.
I can understand that changing the name would be a particularly nasty problem for book publishers. That's a good point and one I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure anyone else (hosting companies, individual contractors, etc.) would be terribly negatively impacted by a software name change. They're still going to have their existing customers and people are still going to seek them out as "Insert Name Here" experts no matter what the name is. I also don't think the effect of changing the name would mean a slow slide into obscurity for ZC. They were pretty successful when they were named Digital Creations, before they even owned the trademark on the business use of the word Zope.
My fear is that Zope (the technology and the community) *itself* is beginning a slow slide into obscurity. That's really no good for anybody, including ZC.
Like it or not, Digital Creations was *not* able to build it's own brand without piggybacking on the Zope name, and if the project were now to change it's name then Zope Corporation would face a slow slide back to obscurity. Not *all* the way back, mind you (all those old articles still on the web), but definitely less than they have today.
This would be a royal pain over the 2-3 year period for independent consultants, whose value proposition is in being 'Zope experts', but a medium-term (1-year) boost for other value added vendors and projects, including Plone, Enfold, Nuxeo, Infrae, etc.
Please don't misunderstand me, this is worthy of consideration as a long-term solution if no other agreement can be reached. But the potential costs must be understood by everyone concerned, and it would be far better for everyone if Zope Corporation were instead to transfer the trademark to the foundation and receive a perpetual/irrevocable/etc. license back.
I can understand that changing the name would be a particularly nasty problem for book publishers. That's a good point and one I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure anyone else (hosting companies, individual contractors, etc.) would be terribly negatively impacted by a software name change. They're still going to have their existing customers and people are still going to seek them out as "Insert Name Here" experts no matter what the name is. I also don't think the effect of changing the name would mean a slow slide into obscurity for ZC. They were pretty successful when they were named Digital Creations, before they even owned the trademark on the business use of the word Zope.
My fear is that Zope (the technology and the community) *itself* is beginning a slow slide into obscurity. That's really no good for anybody, including ZC.
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