[PROPOSAL] Open Source certification

[Lynn Winebarger]

On 10 Apr 1999, Russell Nelson wrote:

> Lynn Winebarger writes:
>  >     As far as I can tell, it's always been SPI's mark.  Do a search on
>  > Open Source at http://www.uspto.gov/.
> 
> Registration does not convey ownership -- everybody knows that.
> 
   Maybe not, but it does help when disputes arise.  As far as I can tell,
the only reason the OSI board has been controlling the mark is that SPI
has not wanted to push the issue too hard, not that OSI has any more
legitimacy in it's control of the mark than SPI has given it.  Frankly,
though, given the attitudes evinced publicly by ESR and yourself (here),
it's not clear to me that letting the situation remain as is is a
worthwhile tradeoff for avoiding the spectacle of a dispute over the mark.

Lynn