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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

RED is a trademark...

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This is a very weird situation. We are the underdogs. Stuff like this sounds very corporate. Pirates don't protect their trademarks! They just kidnap you and make you walk the plank. I hate the idea of having to do this, but I also know if we don't, we will lose the marks we have worked so hard to build. We are trying to stop new ones from coming out... the SDK requests included many new ones... and will deal the best way we can with the ones we have learned about.

Our customers are 1st. But our customers need RED to be healthy so we can continue releasing products that drive the industry crazy... er, make the competition step up their game. All I guess I can ask for is your understanding on this one. It sucks. We all know it.

Jim
 
It seems that Jim is more worried about including RED in the name of any digital production companies. I'm guessing this doesn't necessarily include mentioning using the RED camera as a tool? If I'm wrong please let me know, but I have nothing RED related in my company name, but I do mention that I use the RED Digital Cinema Camera.
 
I have been working with alot of you guys over the last couple months to rectify any issues with this.. and most of you have been very understanding ( thank you for that ).

Its easy to think RED is fair game in a business name, and 99.9% of you guys are not malitious in your intent. Problem is we have already had issues and confusion from customers wondering if a certain company is "officially" part of RED or not, because of the RED in their name.

And we arn't paving new ground here... APPLE ( another common name trademark) is just as vigilant protecting it's mark.
 
Jannard said:
All I guess I can ask for is your understanding on this one. It sucks. We all know it.

Jim
Click to expand...

I think after creating RED, it's not a lot to ask for from anyone, it is your right as the business owner.
I hope you get the support from everyone out there.

(But it is tough coming up with a name to associate with RED without using it and with the clever Mr. Bloom using Crimson :)
 
There's nothing wrong with mentioning RED or a RED product in your own site or literature. It is good practice to acknowledge the owner of the trademark when doing so.

I would be treading on thin ice, however, if I called my product RedStore or RedWrangler. There are products out there already that will be on the wrong side of this (I'm sure we can think of some) - It would be best for them at this early stage to rebrand to avoid potential confusion. I think RED understands the community and enthusiasm around their products, so I doubt the lawyers letters are going to start flying just yet, but I suspect it could come to that if necessary.

I don't think RED is going to start buying domain names off people - technically they probably shouldn't be using confusingly similar names anyway, and RED probably doesn't want all those domains. If I had a product or site now that used RED in the name I would find a new name, register a new domain, and move to it, while having the old domain redirect to it. That provides a nice transition. When the old domain expires - just let it go.
 
Shawn Booth said:
I
But it is tough coming up with a name to associate with RED without using it and with the clever Mr. Bloom using Crimson :)
Click to expand...

foot steps heard in the distance as Mr. Bloom runs to the trademark office :)
 
It sounds like when apple tried to trademark the: i
in front of everything. iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes... etc
I dont recall what happened with these but we get the point.
I feel its somehow right and wrong. To see the RED word in some websites and service providers you instantly got the message of what does that company do and it gave you a feeling that you could speak in the same language. Although at the same time, you get tired of seeing how they misuse the name and misinterpret the whole deal. So I guess you could not revise everyone's company and see/control who does it right and who doesnt. So in the end I would say its rather fair to leave the name to who placed it first for our own good.
 
estebanred said:
It sounds like when apple tried to trademark the: i
in front of everything. iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes... etc
I dont recall what happened with these but we get the point...
Click to expand...

Apple never managed to do anything with that, it was too broad a claim, however anything with Apple, Mac, Macintosh ect. in the name is not allowed.

I renamed my iPhone app to iSee4K (to avoid any potential tm issues with RED) and Apple accepted it into the App store with the "i" prefix.
 
This is good to know. I have about eight registered domains for future projects which reference Red in the name. They don't have sites attached to them yet fortunately.
 
Well we could look at what Adobe says about their Photoshop trademark:

Proper use of the Photoshop trademark

Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and Photoshop is one of Adobe's most valuable trademarks. By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.

The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form. The following examples illustrate these rules:

Trademarks are not verbs.

CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

Trademarks are not nouns.

CORRECT: The image pokes fun at the Senator.
INCORRECT: The photoshop pokes fun at the Senator.
Click to expand...

2- It seems to me that what Red is looking for is to avoid confusion about what is officially associated with Red and what is not. Their main goal isn't to try to trademark a commonly-used English word.

I think we can all agree that confusion about what's official Red is bad.
 
We love the fact that our customers are willing to embrace the RED program and actually want to use the name. We are flattered. Problem is if the mark gets diluted, it becomes fair game for even our competitors. Quite a dilemma.

As Shawn pointed out... there will be no ass kicking of our customers. Only a request to help out the brand. If the request is denied... well. :-)

Jim
 
I understand, and dont blame you, I can roll with this.

Furthermore, this is an about face for you guys, a big one, a very big one. We've all been quite out in the open about naming businesses after supporting Red, you've known about these for about a year and just now speak up.

So with that fully in mind, what would you like us do with existing websites we've registered?
 
Ed Watkins said:
Apple never managed to do anything with that, it was too broad a claim, however anything with Apple, Mac, Macintosh ect. in the name is not allowed.

I renamed my iPhone app to iSee4K (to avoid any potential tm issues with RED) and Apple accepted it into the App store with the "i" prefix.
Click to expand...

And what about Apple and Apple records?

Dylan Macleod
Cinematographer
Toronto, Canada
www.dylanmacleod.com
 
I believe that privately companies like Google and Adobe love for their product names to become household terms. You google something to find information, you photoshop a photo to make it look good. The problem is that, legally they need to protect these words as trademarks, lest they become so commonplace that they refer to a generic concept rather than their product. If you need an aspirin, do you really care if it was made by Bayer? Kleenexes, Xerox's, etc.

I don't think anyone has 'verbed' the word Red yet, but trademark owners need to be seen as actively protecting their trademarks or they could lose them.

That's enough from me for tonight, I am off to red some footage, then redcine it off to post. :-)

Red ya later,

Crewpix.
 
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