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This Apache® Project Website Branding Policy defines how Apache projects must refer to trademarks and requires a few specific elements on websites. The site map of trademark resources is also helpful.

Apache Project Website Branding Policy

This document defines the branding and trademark policies for how Apache® projects must display certain elements on their websites, and treat all trademarks - Apache's and those of other organizations - appropriately. The PMC Branding Responsibilities also explains how PMC members must manage their project's brands in other ways.

Contents

Project Website And URL Policy: Use *.apache.org

Project Naming Policy

The following guidelines are providing to help podlings and projects choose an appropriate name:

Project Branding And Descriptions Policy

The Apache Xerces XML parsing library software provides a complete implementation of the XML 1.0 parsing specification, and is easily configurable and compliant with current standards.

This description is useful for new readers to your page, and helps the ASF maintain an overall list of trademarks for our software products. A trademark is only important when associated with a specific kind of goods: in our case with the actual downloadable software products that the ASF and our PMCs provide.

Note that it's helpful to share the proposed sample description with trademarks@, to ensure it's a proper trademark goods description. For example, in the past Apache Tomcat's website said it was an "implementation" and a "collaboration", not a product with functionality. Apache SpamAssassin's website described itself as a "project" and a "version" and otherwise referred to the software as "it". Neither of these contained a proper trademark goods description (i.e. computer software that performs a function). While this trademark description style may sometimes seem clumsy in technical documentation, it is a critical way that we can enforce our trademarks. It only needs to be done in one prominent place on the website for each project.

Terminology: a project or subproject is a community and any associated products that are managed by a PMC; the same brand guidelines apply to both. A product is a specific, downloadable software product that our users might want to use in some way. There are a few specific requirements for product branding. Note that most projects and subprojects release a product with the same name (i.e. the Apache Foo project releases a software product called Apache Foo).

Website Navigation Links Policy

Whatever main navigation system your project website uses, it must feature certain text links back to key pages on the main www.apache.org website. These links can appear in whatever main navigation system your site uses on all top level pages for the project or subproject.

If you have suggestions for the texts for links pointing back to the main ASF pages that better fit with your project's web presence, please let trademarks@ know.

Including "Thanks" links to third parties - if your project typically has companies that donate software licenses or support to project committers, please follow the Corporate Recognition Guidelines. It is important to ensure any such pages are presented publicly in a manner that is distinctly different from material related to the formal Sponsorship program.

https or http?

Projects are free to use http, https or protocol relative links for the mandatory links required by the website navigation links policy.

We recommend, but do not require, that projects:

Trademark Attributions Policy

Apache Foo, Foo, Apache, the Apache feather logo, and the Apache Foo project logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation in the United States and other countries.

This may appear in page footers or in any other appropriate location.

FooBar and the FooBar logo are trademarks of Yoyodyne, Inc.

To provide a generic trademark attribution (to cover cases where a large number of marks are used, or in case we're not sure which words are other organizations' marks), you can add instead:

All other marks mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Logos and Graphics Policy

Powered By... Logos

We encourage projects to create a variation of their main logo as a "Powered By..." or " Project Inside" logo. Third parties may use this logo to denote that they build products or services using the associated product. While we must ensure that the main product logo is associated with the actual product that the Apache project provides, we allow third parties to more broadly use "Powered by..." logos in conjunction with their own products.

Powered By Apache logos are available for all projects to use (or request updates to).

Project Metadata

All projects must provide a DOAP - Description Of A Project - file or entry for both the project itself and all product releases that they make - OR otherwise provide structured data such that the projects.apache.org website can find it. Follow the guidelines at to make a DOAP file and register it. This will allow the ASF to best showcase all of its projects and products in a variety of ways.

Update Apache Trademark Lists, briefly describing each software product. In the future, we hope to generate this list from DOAP files of all products.

Other Trademark Requirements

If your project has subprojects that are software-language-specific, be sure to name them appropriately. For example, "Apache Xerces Perl" is not appropriate, since it improperly uses the trademark "Perl". A better project name would be "Apache Xerces for Perl". The ASF could allow a third party named FooBar to ship a software product called "FooBar Software for Apache Xerces" or "BarFoo Services for Apache Xerces". The ASF would not allow Foobar to use "FooBar Xerces" or "BarFoo Xerces" forms of a name, since Xerces is our trademark. The same applies to the use of the word "Perl" (which is a trademark of The Perl Foundation ).

Registered Trademarks If a PMC would like to request legal registration of their project's trademarks, follow the REGREQUEST instructions.

Project-Related Non-apache.org Domain Names

To ensure consistent branding and assure users that content is official and from the ASF and our PMCs, all existing projects must host all content managed by the PMC on the ProjectName.apache.org domain.

IMPORTANT: Projects may not use domain names owned by third parties to host official project content. The content must be migrated, or the domain registration must be transferred to the ASF.

If a new community coming to the Apache Incubator has a long history of using an existing domain name, and has a significant userbase, the podling may request to keep these names for limited uses once the podling graduates to TLP.

Steps for podlings with non-apache.org domains

Factors to consider for use of non-apache.org domains

-- The domain was very well-known by the user and contributor communities long before the project came to the ASF.

-- The domain is only used to provide end user level information.

-- The domain is Apache branded in appearance just as a.o sites are, and offers clear and prominent links directly to project.a.o/path for all likely contributor topics, like downloads, API docs, and mailing lists.

Examples of non-apache.org domain approvals

These are exceptions, and are not the case for the majority of new projects:

Project Branding Checklist

All Apache top level projects should comply fully with these guidelines. Any projects which are not compliant must work with trademarks@ to ensure that they become compliant. All Incubator podlings must either comply with all requirements before graduation, or have a specific and short-term action plan to complete compliance soon after graduation (in case there are technical issues with website updates, etc.).

Contact trademarks@ directly with branding questions - there is no longer any need to include this in your board reports.

Project Branding Report Checklist

Rationale

This policy helps to promote and improve the image of all projects that are part of the ASF, to show that all Apache® projects are part of the "community of developers and users" that we believe is an important factor in our success. While each of our projects manages their own affairs within the broad guidelines of the Apache Way, a consistent public branding and web presence that ties all of our projects together with the well-known www.apache.org homepage benefits all of us by ensuring that end users and future contributors know how to find official project resources.

Similarly, displaying Apache names and logos properly on our project pages helps maintain our legal rights to the trademarks they embody. Using the appropriate ™ and ® symbols, and using trademarks properly to refer to our actual software products, are key ways that we tell the world (and lawyers) that these trademarks are valuable to us.

Questions? Apache committers with questions can contact the Trademarks Committee. The formal Trademark Policy explains how other organizations should refer to Apache project trademarks and logos. A list of ASF trademarks and guidelines for reporting potential misuses of trademarks are also available.

Incubator Podlings in the Apache Incubator have their own detailed Podling branding guidelines. Direct questions about these guidelines to the general@incubator list. Podlings must comply with all Project Branding Requirements before graduation to a top level project.

Important Note

Nothing in this ASF policy statement shall be interpreted to allow any third party to claim any association with the Apache Software Foundation or any of its projects or to imply any approval or support by ASF for any third party products or services.

This document is aimed at the ASF's internal community and the PMCs that manage our projects, and does not override or replace our formal Trademark Policy. If you have a question that is not specifically answered here or that you'd like further clarification on, please contact us. Further resources about trademark law and policy are also available.