GNOME.org

UPDATE: Groupon has decided touse a name other than "Gnome" for its tablet platform for merchants. "After additional conversations with the open source community and the Gnome Foundation, we have decided to abandon our pending trademark applications for 'Gnome,'" the company said. "We will choose a new name for our product going forward."

Our original story follows:

The foundation that runs the open source software project GNOME has accused Groupon of infringing its registered trademark with a new product called Gnome, and it's trying to raise $80,000 in donations to oppose Groupons trademark applications.

Groupon told Ars that the company is willing to find another name if it cant reach an acceptable compromise with the GNOME Foundation.

GNOME, a desktop environment for Linux-based operating systems, was created in 1997 as the GNU Network Object Model Environment. The acronym is no longer used, but the project name is still stylized in all upper-case letters. Its had a registered trademark since 2006 for downloadable computer software for creating and managing computer desktops, software for graphical user interfaces, word processing, database management, use as a spreadsheet, and for software tools and libraries that can be used to develop other software applications.

Groupon, a deal-of-the-day website, recently launcheda tablet platformfor merchants with the name, Gnome. The hardware and software can be used by businesses to "instantly recognize theirGrouponcustomers as they enter their business, seamlessly redeem Groupons, and save time and money with a simple point-of-sale system and credit card payment processing service." This is what it looks like:

The people at the GNOME Foundation were not happy about this, and they say theyhavent been able to convince Groupon to pick another name. In an announcement today, the GNOME Foundation said:

Recently Groupon announced a product with the same product name as GNOME. Groupons product is a tablet based point of sale operating system for merchants to run their entire operation." The GNOME community was shocked that Groupon would use our mark for a product so closely related to the GNOME desktop and technology. It was almost inconceivable to us that Groupon, with over $2.5 billion in annual revenue, a full legal team, and a huge engineering staff would not have heard of the GNOME project, found our trademark registration using a casual search, or even found our website, but we nevertheless got in touch with them and asked them to pick another name. Not only did Groupon refuse, but it has now filed even more trademark applications (the full list of applications they filed can be found here, here, and here). To use the GNOME name for a proprietary software product that is antithetical to the fundamental ideas of the GNOME community, the free software community and the GNU project is outrageous. Please help us fight this huge company as they try to trade on our goodwill and hard-earned reputation.

As noted earlier,a Groupon spokesperson told Ars that the company is willing to compromise. Groupon is a strong and consistent supporter of the open source community, and our developers are active contributors to a number of open source projects, Groupon said. Weve been communicating with the Foundation for months to try to come to a mutually satisfactory resolution, including alternative branding options, and were happy to continue those conversations. Our relationship with the open source community is more important to us than a product name. And if we can't come up with a mutually acceptable solution, we'll be glad to look for another name.

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Groupon backs down from GNOME over trademark, will change product name

Groupons getting into the point-of-sale game with a tablet-based system to rival Square. Theyre calling it Gnome, and they want to trademark the name which doesnt sit well with the GNOME project.

Grab a dictionary (or hit up Google), and its easy enough to see why Groupon feels like Gnome is a good name for their point-of-sale terminal. In the fantasy world, gnomes sometimes look after epic underground piles of treasure. Its also used as a label for experts in banking monetary matters (the gnomes of Zurich).

Still, for Groupon to ignore the 17-year history of the GNOME project and the highly popular desktop environment it produces is a slap in the face for supporters of free and open source software. Theyre also ignoring the fact that the project already has a trademark on GNOME, and have had it for the past eight years.

And theres still one more thing theyre ignoring: this blog post on their very own website. Its titled Sharing is Caring, and its all about how much Groupon loves open source and how important and amazing the people who contribute to open source software are. In their defense, that post was published a whole month ago, so its possible that they just forgot about how much they cared about the open source movement over the past four weeks.

GNOME supporters are not at all pleased by Groupons move. We are outraged that Groupon would attempt to insinuate that its proprietary software and products have anything to do with the GNOME community, said Andrew Lee of Private Internet Access.

Groupon has countered with a new blog post. In it, they claim that theyve been communicating with the GNOME for months to find a mutually satisfactory resolution, adding that theyll gladly look for another name if they cant work things out because, well, they love open source.

Now, if thats actually true, you wouldnt think that GNOME would need to go out looking for donations for a legal defense fund. No, the fact that theyre doing just that makes it seem as though mutually satisfactory really means Groupon will take the Gnome trademark and GNOME can slink off into a corner and figure out another way to brand their 17-year free software legacy.

GNOME figures theyll need around $80,000 to formally oppose Groupons first set of ten trademark applications. The good news is that if their legal team doesnt need all the money itll go toward furthering the GNOME project. Head on over and kick in a few bucks if you can.

Update: That was over in a hurry. After lengthy discussions with the open source community today (which no doubt involved a lot of shouting and fist shaking), Groupon decided to back down. Theyre officially looking for a new name and no, its not going to be Electronic Monetary And Coupon System or something like that.

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Groupon ignores 17 years of open source history, tries to trademark Gnome