Koha Trade Mark Usage Policy

On the 18th January 2012, following consultation with the Koha Subcommittee, Te Horowhenua Library Trust, trading as Horowhenua Library Trust, adopted the following Koha Trademark Usage Policy:

The Horowhenua Library Trust has been elected by the worldwide online Koha user community to be the custodian of Koha intellectual property including the KOHA name and associated logos in any form, font or stylisation, and whether alone or in combination with other words or marks, including [insert the Koha logo].

We at the Horowhenua Library Trust love it when people talk about Koha, build businesses around Koha and produce products that make life better for Koha users and developers. We do, however, have a trademark, which we are obliged to protect. The trademark gives us the exclusive right to use the term to promote websites, services, businesses and products. Although those rights are exclusively ours, we are happy to give people permission to use the term under most circumstances.

The following is a general policy that tells you when you can lawfully refer to the KOHA name and associated logos without need of any specific permission from the Horowhenua Library Trust:

First, you must make clear that you are not Horowhenua Library Trust and that you do not represent [Horowhenua Library Trust] or the Koha user community. A simple disclaimer on your home page is an excellent way of doing that.

Second, you may use the KOHA name and logo only in descriptions of your website, product, business or service to provide accurate information to the public about yourself or your website, product, business or service.

If you would like to use the KOHA name or logo for any other use, please contact us and we’ll discuss a way to make that happen. We don’t have strong objections to people using the name for their websites and businesses, but we do need the chance to review such use.

This trade mark usage policy is intended to be legally binding.

Generally, we will approve your use if you agree to a few things, mainly:
(1) our rights to the KOHA trademark are valid and superior to yours and (2) you’ll take appropriate steps to make sure people don’t confuse you with us or your website, product, business or service with ours. In other words, a short conversation (usually done via email) should clear everything up in short order.
If you currently have a website that is using the KOHA name and you have not gotten permission from us, don’t panic. Let us know, and we’ll work it out, as described above.