Update: After many discussions with Matt and the WordPress Community and staff, it is official. It is a violation of trademark to use WordPress in your site’s domain name. You may use it in the title and in blog posts, however, please note that using WP or WordPress in the site title implies the site specializes in WordPress content. Don’t disappoint.
Many sites have rebranded themselves accordingly. They include:
- Hack WordPress Rebrands as WPHacks.com!
- Consumer evangelists vs. lawyers: using “WordPress” in domain names – WP Garage
- Should WordPress Fan Sites Worry About The WordPress Trademark? – WPHacks
- WordPress Is Only Protecting Themselves — WPCandy
The same policy to protect the trademark applies to all trademarked names for WordPress Foundation and Automattic companies including BuddyPressy, WordPressMU, and bbPress.
Accordingly, myself and many WordPress-specific blogs will no longer link to sites which violate this policy.
For a long time, Matt Mullenweg has been lenient about the use of “WordPress” in domain names and blog titles, along with other usages, without credit or notice that WordPress is a trademark of Automattic. According to BloggingPro, “WordPress is a Registered Trademark of Automattic, Inc.”, action has begun to target those using “WordPress” without permission.
The WordPress Trademark domain name usage policy was added not long ago to the official WordPress site. The policy basically says you can’t use the name in your domain name without permission.
What isn’t clear is how you can use “WordPress” in your blog title, ads, or other usages. Domain names like “word-press.net” or “wor-dpress.com” may pass inspection, but most people question them, so why bother since it makes a bad first impression and looks spammy.
There are also many other sites calling themselves things like make-money-with-wordpress.com and easy-wordpress-blogging.com, or variations thereof, so is WordPress sending these folks cease and desist orders? They might. If not now, later. Better to be safer than sorrier.
If you are using WordPress in your domain name, stop. If you are using WordPress as the official “name” of your company, blog title, or otherwise, but not in the domain name, stay tuned for the official response on that one, though it is probably okay.
If you are using “WordPress” to name and promote your Plugin or Theme, such as XYZ WordPress Theme or ABC WordPress Plugin, that comes under “adjective” and not a trademark violation as I understand it. It’s using the trademark name as a description. Just don’t name your site “WordPress Plugins” or “WordPress Themes” as that turns the description into a business name, a violation of the trademark.
The idea that WordPress could become a generic name like Kleenex, Jeep, and Google is exciting to think about. Instead of saying “I’m going to blog that”, you could say “I’m going to WordPress that”. Wow!
I wonder what this means for Lorelle on WordPress? 😉
Later: “Lorelle on WordPress” was the naming convention all of us testers used when we set up our sites on WordPress.com. We all were “x on WordPress” including Matt Mullenweg, who changed his to Matt on Not-WordPress, his food and photo blog. WordPress.com is the domain name of an official WordPress site, and my use of “Lorelle on WordPress” is not a trademark violation as it is in the blog title, not the domain name.
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, member of the 9Rules Network
Lorelle on WordPress 
47 Comments
Lorelle,
Before asking everyone to stop using ‘wordpress’ as a domain name, as (particularly) part of a product name or some such, you may want to clear your ‘lorelle on wordpress’ as being o.k. first?
Really – that’s up to Automattic to enforce as they see fit. 🙂
Hi You’ve said:
“The idea that WordPress could become a generic name like Kleenex, Jeep, and Google is exciting to think about. Instead of saying “I’m going to blog that”, you could say “I’m going to WordPress that”. Wow!”
no! 😉
because if wordpress could become a generic name, you can’t safe the rights for this name.
last year google have said: please delete *googeln* in all of your German dictionary, because if *googeln* would be an common adjective they can’t safe their rights for this name in many years.
I hope you understand my meanings
Regards from Austria
Monika
Lorelle, what about blogging services that use WordPress as their core, but do not disclose so, nor share their source, as per the GPL? One example I’ve come across is http://www.i.ph which removes all references to wordpress, but apparently has a WP core (judging from the URL structures, etc., and from what I’ve read online).
It looks like everyone on the list of http://www.whois.net/search.cgi2?str=wordpress is in trouble.
you could always be lorelle on wordpress™ (a la wank).
and this isn’t terribly new, matt told the arenawp guy to change his domain name when it was wordpress-arena.com (as an example).
i don’t believe automattic intends to continue to own wordpress, though, last i heard, the plan was to set up a wordpress foundation (like mozilla).
@matthew – i don’t disclose that i’m running wordpress either. but since i’m not redistributing, i don’t run afoul of the GPL.
Ooh, I think I’m gonna Movable Type this!
…
…
Yeah, I don’t think MT has anything to worry about.
I don’t think anyone on WordPress.com has anything to worry about in that respect, at least at this point…and also, since you are a pillar of the WordPress community, I highly doubt Automattic would make you cranky by sending one of those cease and desist orders. 🙂
I would love to say ‘I am going to wordpress about it’ 🙂 But then what about the sites that use WP but remove all the references? It should make sure that they at least give a link. But then i feel its something against the ideology of open source. I was saddened by google’s objection to using its name as a verb. I wonder why are they so wary of that. I hope WP and Google don’t go Microsoft’s way
That is an incorrect reading of the GPL. Read the GPL FAQ page. Do you see the WordPress.com source code up for download? WordPress may be freely used, and modified. No one is obligated to publish their changes, or even disclose that WordPress is what is powering their site. Freedom, baby.
Probably nothing. You’re not making money or disparaging WordPress. The phrasing “X on WordPress” implies either X is using WordPress, or X is talking about WordPress. There doesn’t seem to be any danger of thinking that you’re officially sponsored by WordPress. If your site were “WordPress Presents Lorelle,” you might be in slightly murkier water, though I doubt you of all people would be getting a notice. You’re good people. 🙂
The GPL does not allow you to demand a link. It can be suggested (and it is, if you look at the source of the default theme), but not demanded.
Trademark is only valid in your country which is US. So if u are using wordpress.cn or .ru for example unless wordpress is also a trademark in that country then it has violated the trademark.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Nonsense. Back when WordPress was starting to rise from the remnants of the b2 codebase, Matt and company would’ve jumped with joy for any mention of WordPress in popular sites. During those times, WP was just a simple open-source project highly focused in serving its community.
It’s quite surprising how time and money change people.
Actually, Google seems to very much dislike the idea of their trademark becoming generic:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/do-you-google.html
I *think* you are wrong GaMerZ. Trademarks are global. The problem is defending them. And yes, if you were to sue somebody in a different country, your mark would probably have to be registered with a governing body that applies to such country. But in principle, I believe trademarks are global. Pretty much almost every country in the world has signed international treaties on that issue.
Don’t get me started on this topic… There’s already an individual in the UK intentionally using my trademark. But unlike copyright, fighting this is a lot more complicated for individuals without huge multinational funds.
Oh please, markku. Property is the underlying principle of capitalism. Don’t like it? Try Cuba…
Hi Lorelle,
Thanks for writing about the trademark issue. The short answer is that using WordPress in the name of a web/software related product or company requires Automattic’s permission. Other uses such as calling a blog ‘Lorelle on WordPress’ are fine. Your http://www.word-press.net example is a good one. They had a product called phpWordpress at a site called http://www.word-press.net that had nothing to do with Automattic. We approached them and they agreed to change the name of the product to Vivvo (a name that they own and can trademark protect themselves).
In case of http://www.word-press.net I can understand the troubble,… but the rest is like advertisement!
Hi Maria
you are wrong,
if someone would like to have his trademark in Austria, he has to do this in Austria,
if the name *wordpress* is only trademark in USA, ==> thats not our problem in Austria 😉
regards
Monika
See? This puts me in a difficult situation. Being a podcast about WordPress I naturally assumed the best name would be The WordPress Podcast. Since I deal in an audio environment, I can’t ask people to come visit at double u p dash community dot org slash podcast, so I’ve set up a redirect for http://wordpresspodcast.org which in turn redirects me to http://wp-community.org/podcast/.
Does having WordPress in my domain name violate trademark laws? Probably. Does having WordPress in the title of my podcast violate trademark laws? I don’t know.
I do know this much, between the legaleese on the blog and at the end of each episode and Matt’s blessing, I’m probably pretty safe.
Besides, if ‘WordPress’ becomes a commonly used verb, the trademark is almost meaningless, so I understand Automattic wanting to protect it.
Wow! Great comments.
Before anyone starts going wankers on the issue of Matt and the new WordPress staff cracking heads over WordPress trademark issues, they aren’t. It’s just warning to obey the rules and play fair, folks, when using the WordPress name. If anyone has been exceptionally lenient, much to my nagging him otherwise, on use of the WordPress name, it’s Matt.
I have always insisted on protecting the trademark, registering, and incorporating in order to protect Matt, WordPress, and the rest of the Automattic fun and games. More so than he has.
I still stick by my original feeling that it’s up to the trademark owner to enforce their trademark – given they’re legally entitled to do so.
Average Joe Bloggs doesn’t (generally) have any right to tell anyone not to use a tradmark’d name – it just clouds the already murky waters and annoys the hell out of (otherwise reasonable) people.
**IANAL
Well Monika… I think when it comes to competing online things get a little unclear. I agree that a bakery in Austria called WordPress is not infringing on the WP trademark. But a product or service directly competing with WP’s “business nature” and using the internet to operate globally, even if based in Austria could probably raise some questions on Unfair Competition Law, which is protected by international agreements.
Must you register your trademark everywhere to effectively protect it globally? Of course!
@GaMerZ: I work for a domain registrar and we deal with international domain disputes all the time. Two organizations that could, and likely would, get involved in the event someone decided to register a Trademark protected domain name would be the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (wipo.org).
As Maria said, trademarks are global.
@kevh: international? But if I am not applying for international domain? But i though every country got is own internet governing body? like in Singapore for example, it is SGNIC.com. I might think Monika is right, and according to a few friends doing business, they said that trademark is valid only in that country they applied in.
How about sites that promote WordPress, hence the use of WordPress in the URL?
Where you we “get permission” for the use of the name, perhaps we can submit a justification and get written approval?
Sigh….
I hope they have more repeat the Oreilly “Web 2.0” fiasco, Mike Row software shame, and the Asterix stupidity.
Don’t let’s start about Disney.
Just my opinion (TM)
Great topic! The bottom line is: If WordPress is a trademark or a registered mark, then they can police the use of WordPress in a url or company name. I.e. http://www.ilovewordpress.com would be infringement and cause for some policing.
Best,
Matthew
I believe your post and the one at bloggingpro are factually incorrect.
WordPress have applied for the Registered Trademark, but they haven’t been granted it yet.
This is copied from the trademark application
“Published for Opposition November 7, 2006”
I recently after consultation with Matt switched my WordPressplugins.info site to wpplugins.info.
Full details of why are at
http://wpplugins.info/10/wordpress-trademark-and-domain-change/
I have been told by Matt it is ok to have WP in a domain name, and WordPress in a subdomain.
I would point out that I approached Matt on this issue when I first discovered their views on this, and discovered the pending tradmark registration. I agree it is good for them to defend the trademark, and that it is actually good for my business that they do.
Hi Monika,
You are wrong, you don’t need to register the name individually for each country as long as the country is already ratified international IP convention.
If I’m not mistaken the whole world already agreed to this except Iran and Cuba (perhaps… not really sure).
And as for WordPress name usage, I think it’s pretty okay to use it for non-business use (like wordpress-theme or something) as long as there’s no money involved in it.
Heck, suing me because I’m using wordpress-plugins.com to publish my plugins for free is like suicide for WordPress community!
@Oskar Syahbana: Thanks for the clear up for the trademark issue. I agree with you on this:
“And as for WordPress name usage, I think it’s pretty okay to use it for non-business use (like wordpress-theme or something) as long as there’s no money involved in it.
Heck, suing me because I’m using wordpress-plugins.com to publish my plugins for free is like suicide for WordPress community!”
Sueing people would not look good.
I keep seeing “money involved” mentioned by people. For most of the prolific plugin authors, there is always some level of money involved.
If you have a donate button, even if noone uses it, that is money.
If you have adsense, that is money, even if noone clicks on them
If you link from the site to other money making sites, that is commercial as well.
If you sell links, that is commerial.
If you provide WordPress or any other consulting such as general web design, even if you are listing the plugins only on your personal blog, it is still money.
It is best to avoid all this greyness. It is much better for the WordPress brand.
That’s what you might think. But it doesn’t make it true. A US trademark is practically worthless in the EU — and rightly so. The US laws do not apply here. Don’t believe me? So sue me. 😉
Btw, of course most US companies who make business in the EU have registered their trademarks here, too. A recent example: The German Microsoft department successfully sued a German spammer in a German court because of spoofing hotmail accounts — a trademark registered in Germany.
I think they reimplemented WordPress in PHP. 😉
According to Wiki, “… it is currently not possible to file and obtain a single trademark registration which will automatically apply around the world. Trademark laws are territorial in nature and generally apply only in the applicable country or jurisdiction, a quality which is sometimes referred to as ‘territoriality’.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark)
Based on my understanding is that WordPress is registered as US trademark, which is only protected by US law that why major firms such as Google and Microsoft have to register their trademark in many countries around the world.
For example, Google.inc has registered their trademark in Australia(http://pericles.ipaustralia.gov.au/atmoss/Falcon_Users_Cookies.Run_Create) if the US trademark is able to cover around the world, why they have to do that?
Further information about international trademark, http://www.ggmark.com/#International_Trademark_Law
Please correct me,if I were wrong (I have no background in law 🙂 )
What about wordpress.info and wordpress.biz?
Alex
Posted October 30, 2006 at 6:06 am Yes this is true and correct.
If an USA company would reserve its company name it has to do it in every country as like an Austrian company has to do this in USA.
😉 USA is a ‘little bit’ bigger than Austria but our law is our law and yours is yours. 😉
I wouldn’t use wordpress in a domain( .de,.at,.net.biz,.tld) or in the name of any of my companies, but I would like to warn you to make wordpress to a generic name. If this is a generic name, you can’t reserve this name as a trademark or if it is a trademark it would loose its trademark character!
offtopic:Lorelle in one of your posts you have asked for a plugin or something else to create a family tree. I’ve create a workaround using quicktags.js. If you would like to have this please send me an email. Because the article is in german language.
regards
Monika
I don’t think anyone on WordPress.com has anything to worry about in that respect, at least at this point…and also, since you are a pillar of the WordPress community, I highly doubt Automattic would make you cranky by sending one of those cease and desist orders.
@Narty Austria:
Actually, I got permission first. They examined it carefully before giving permission. It also launched a lot of “Fred on WordPress” named blogs on WordPress.com, and most of those have now changed their names because they aren’t blogging about WordPress.
I am no pillar of anything in the WordPress Community. I’m just one of the many with no special privileges. At any moment, WordPress could change their mind and send me a cease and desist order.
you should take a cautious approach when it is matter of trademarks and IP
thats a smart stuff!
Using word press in your domain name or otherwise is absolotely illegal. Word press is working hard to prevent it becoming a generic name so is doing google.
What a pity that these guys earlier worked hard to make their names famous and now they are working hard for stopping them from becoming too famous :))
@ Shugle:
Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, is not working hard to stop the use of their trademark name. They are relying upon the good gracious and understanding of their fans, and gently requesting that people play nice. Nor is it likely it will become a generic name, though it is possible. I’d think it would be fun to say I’m a WordPresser instead of blogger. 😀
Oh wow, thanks for letting me know about this! I had no idea about the policy and had already bought and started work on a domain called WordPressSchool. I made tracks to change it after finding out about the policy. I am now UnofficialWPSchool. That way people know it isnt an officially affiliated with WordPress 🙂
Your blog is the best, Lorelle!
This is very interesting. This article was posted in 2006. Today, WordPress is used very commonly both in domains, titles, and company names. I wonder how WordPress has updated their ‘enforcement’ of their trademark.
It’s an interesting debate. Some people think that if you have a site about WordPress, it’s okay to use the name in your domain, for example the way “Macworld” is a publication about Macs.
I had an interesting domain trademark conflict a few years ago. When the show “Alias” became popular, I decided to set up a Jennifer Garner fan site. I registered one of the available names…I think it was jennifergarner.net. A few weeks later, as I was working on getting the site up, I got a letter from her attorneys demanding that I immediately surrender the domain name to her at no charge.
I checked with my attorney, and he said that she doesn’t own exclusive rights to that name (even if it’s her name), and that I am perfectly within my rights to use it in a descriptive fashion (as in a fan site about her) as long as I’m not exploiting her or misrepresenting my site as “official” or anything like that. He basically told her attorneys to back off. I never heard anything else from them, but I let the domain expire (because I no longer had interest in promoting Ms. Garner). Funny thing was, when it expired, her people never registered it. It was such a big deal to them, then…nothing.
During all this, I checked with other owners of jennifergarner domains. They all got the same letter. To spite her, a webmaster in England found a college student there named Jennifer Garner, and he made his site all about her. His point was that the actress is very arrogant to act as if no one else in the world is allowed to have a website with her name…even if it’s their name too.
Your attorney didn’t quite give you the whole story. Using someone’s name is different from using a trademark. If the actress had trademarked her name, and the site was about her, then the issue would be totally different. WordPress is a trademark, as is Mac. Macworld has permission to use the name, and some companies allow usage of their trademark name in domain names and site titles. However, WordPress does not.
Pinwordpress which is the unique social pinboard dedicated to wordpress has been re branded to omgwp.com @http://www.omgwp.com, after the wordpress foundation raised trademark concern about the domain name.
What if i just bought one of such domain before i realize these things and then i just redirected to the new one does it violates the law?
Yes. The trademark is the trademark.
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