[TriLUG] PSA: Groupon trying to jack GNOME trademark

[Matthew Frazier]

Hello, fellow TriLUGgers,

Groupon, a company that sells Internet coupons, is branching out into 
mobile point of sale solutions. Unfortunately, they decided to name 
their new system "Gnome," despite the fact that the name GNOME has been 
used for a popular Free Software desktop environment for 17 years.

After Groupon filed trademark registrations for "Gnome," the GNOME 
Foundation sent them a letter saying, "hey, we've been using the name 
GNOME for 17 years, could you please pick another name?" But Groupon 
said "buzz off," and filed MORE trademark registrations.

So, now the GNOME Foundation is trying to raise $80,000 to challenge 
Groupon's trademark registrations. If you can spare the cash, it would 
be a good idea to donate to GNOME -- besides all the great work they've 
done for the Free Software community, defending GNOME's trademark would 
set a solid precedent against any future companies trying to rip names 
off from Free Software projects. If not, at least complain loudly on 
social media so people know to avoid dealing with Groupon.

Donate and get more info at http://www.gnome.org/groupon/

Thanks,
Matthew Frazier