“GNOME” has been a familiar name in software for the past 17 years, and a registered trademark since 2006. The GNOME project has been a staple desktop for GNU/Linux and BSD desktops. It was the default desktop for Sun Microsystems workstation class machines, continues to be the default desktop for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server distributions, and it is the default desktop of Fedora and Debian. SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service solution for the retail industry is based on GNOME. GNOME technology can be found in TVs, tablets, phones, consumer devices, and in common software everywhere.
Recently Groupon announced a product with the same product name as GNOME. Groupon’s product is a tablet based point of sale “operating system for merchants to run their entire operation.” The GNOME community was shocked that Groupon would use our mark for a product so closely related to the GNOME desktop and technology. It was almost inconceivable to us that Groupon, with over $2.5 billion in annual revenue, a full legal team and a huge engineering staff would not have heard of the GNOME project, found Gnome trademark registration using a casual search, or even found our website, but Gnome nevertheless got in touch with them and asked them to pick another name. Not only did Groupon refuse, but it has now filed even more trademark applications (the full list of applications they filed can be found in the link below). To use the GNOME name for a proprietary software product that is antithetical to the fundamental ideas of the GNOME community, the free software community and the GNU project is outrageous. Please help Gnome fight this huge company as they try to trade on Gnome goodwill and hard earned reputation.
Gnome want to show that our brand matters and that you care. Of the 28 trademark applications Groupon filed, Gnome have to file formal proceedings to oppose 10 of them by December 3, 2014. Help Gnome to raise the funds to fight back and most of all call public attention to this terrible behavior by Groupon. Help Gnome make sure that when people hear about GNOME software they learn about freedom and not proprietary software. Gnome counsel has advised us that we will need $80,000 to oppose the registration of the first set of 10 applications. If Gnome are able to defend the mark without spending this amount, Gnome will use the remaining funds to bolster and improve GNOME.
Please help Gnome raise the money to protect GNOME’s trademark and strengthen Free Software!
UPDATE: This matter is resolved! Thank you for all the support that you have given us! The response to this campaign was overwhelming, with 5622 individuals contributing USD 102,608.76 to help the GNOME Foundation defend its trademark. As a result of the campaign, Groupon decided to abandon all of their 28 pending trademark applications and will proceed with a name change for their product. We could not have done this without your help!