[Atp] AT Protocol Trademark

[Daniel Holmgren <[e-mail]>]

Hey folks,

Bluesky recently announced that it now owns the trademark for "ATPROTOCOL".
You can read more details in the announcement post:
https://atproto.com/blog/at-protocol-trademark

The short version is that another company threatened litigation, so Bluesky
purchased the trademark to protect both Bluesky and other
companies/projects building with the protocol. Bluesky has adopted as
permissive a policy as possible without losing trademark rights, taking
inspiration from projects such as Wikimedia, Red Hat, Rust, Python
Foundation, Apache, Mozilla, Linux, and Debian.

Bluesky is also interested in having another entity (other than Bluesky)
hold and enforce the trademark. Though, for practicality's sake, since
Bluesky PBC purchased the mark and wants to provide protection as soon as
possible, Bluesky currently holds and enforces it.

To be clear, the trademark would not impact commercial entities that
implement the protocol. It only requires permission if they brand their
product with the trademark.

Bluesky's internal counsel spoke with IETF counsel and it sounds like
nothing prevents Bluesky from owning the trademark and publishing/enforcing
a trademark policy. Bluesky would make a formal disclosure & grant a
perpetual license to the IETF according to RFC5378.

Ultimately, the working group's opinion matters most on these issues.
Please feel free to discuss or share any concerns.

Looking forward to seeing folks in Vienna next week!

Cheers,
Daniel