Guix trademarked by Express Logic

[mikadoZero]

I have search guix-devel for this and did not find it.  I would like to
know what people think about these topics:

* does the Guix free software project have a trademark?
* proactive name change
* reacting to a forced name change
* talking with Forbes Lindsey of Jade to gain insights
* talking with Express Logic about their Guix trademark

# Guix is trademarked

That Guix is trademarked by Express Logic was brought to my attention by
in this message: 

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2019-03/msg00122.html

Thank you Tobias Geerinckx-Rice for mentioning this.

Looking into this further here is additional information.

Express Logic website:

https://rtos.com/

Here is a press releases about Express Logic's Guix trademarked software
product:

https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/express-logics-guix-becomes-the-first-deeply-embedded-gui-solution-certified-to-sil-4-asil-d-and-medical-class-c-for-safety-critical-iot-systems-2019-02-27

# Does Guix have a trademark?

Does the Guix free software project have a trademark for Guix?

There is only one search result for Guix's website using the term
trademark.  It is in the manual "14.4.1 Software Freedom" and is not
relevant to the question at hand.  I see no indication that the Guix
free software project has trademarked Guix.

# A parallel in free software

If it is the case that Guix the free software project does not have a
trademark for Guix, then I would like to share what looks like a clear
parallel.  It involves another free software project that used to be
called Jade.  Jade did not have a trademark for Jade.  A software
company had the trademark for Jade.  The company forced Jade to change
it's name.  Assuming Guix does not have a trademark then it looks like
it is the same situation without yet having been forced to change it's
name.

Here is a link to an issue on Pug's (Jade's new name) GitHub page
discussing their forced name change:
github.com/pug/issues/2184

# Proactive name change

Looking at the pug thread above shows that it would have been nice if
Jade had not been forced to change their name so quickly and could have
engaged it's community further on ideas for a new name.

This raises the idea that proactively changing Guix's name might be
better than reacting to a forced name change.  A benefit to a proactive
name change is being able to chose the timing.  So for example the name
change could be planned to coincide with the 1.0 release which I have
heard is approaching.  Similar to a butterfly emerging from a
chrysalis.  Maybe there is a opportunity here and this could be turned
into a nice announcement.

# Learning from Jade

>From that thread it looks like Forbes Lindsey was the person that the
company's lawyers were sending letters to.  They might be a good person
to talk as they may be able to share some interesting insights that
would likely be directly relevant to the Guix.

# Contacting Express Logic

Also it might be good to reach out to Express Logic as they may not
actually have any problem with the Guix free software project using the
name they have trademarked.

# Summary

I am not recommending any specific course of action.  I just want to
start a discussion.

Also in the interest of transparency I am linking to messages I recently
wrote where I am open about my bias of not being a fan of Guix
pronounced as "geeks". 

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2019-03/msg00121.html

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2019-03/msg00134.html