"We are guided by the dedication to open source, a passion for open use and the commitment to be an organization created at the service of open source projects". This is the testimony and mission that can be read on the first page of the Open Usage Commons website, an organization that was launched last week by Google to help open source projects manage their trademarks.
The company believes that the growth of open source projects has to be accompanied with a better management of the use of its registered trademarks and that is why it has advanced with the initiative. For Google, understanding and managing trademarks is critical to the long-term sustainability of projects, especially with the increase in the number of products intended for the corporate market. "We think this is the next challenge for open source and we want to help," writes Chris DiBona, Director of Open Source on the company's Googleno blog.
The proposal is not being well accepted by the community it should serve, and several criticisms have already arisen, even on the part of companies and foundations, who consider that this initiative can distort the governance model of open source projects.
Open Usage Commons proposals can be followed on the initiative's website.
