How bad is the current draft trademark policy of the Rust Foundation?

Question

I just heard that if you use the term "Rust" or the Rust logo you can be sued by the Rust Foundation. I love Rust, but this move makes me question a lot about the future of Rust.RFC Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaM4pdWFsLJ8GHIUFIhepuq0lfTg_b0mJ-hvwPdHa4UTRaAg/viewformIMO, Rust has gathered a lot of attention. And I know too much of something is harmful. This move says that Rust Foundation wants to gatekeep. I have heard a lot about how if you keep your circle small, you are able to reach great heights, since you are the average of the people you are with. Say a group of Rust elitist promoting the Rust project. It is good, but what about the newbies or the ones not endorsed by the Rust Foundation. Are they really such a nuisance? I think the focus should not be about surviving and evolving into having the longest technological reach. But be more selfless, and let others put in efforts to reach that longest technological reach. In the end I think the Rust foundation should be fully ready to leave Rust in the hands of the next generation of hackers and dreamers.

soulbadguy · Accepted Answer

Not a lawyer nor a rust dev. But looking at the reaction on twitter and youtube, this policy doesn't seem well received and most people seems to echo your sentiment.
I think most of us understand the need to bring some consistency to echo system which might help both new comers and industry adoptions. It seems that this both poorly worded and more importantly decided (as in drafted) without really consulting the community.
I am surprise i am not seeing more comment about this seeing as anything rust is usually a big news on HN.

Fnoord · Answer

I remember Linus Torvalds about defending the Linux name and logo trademark (back in early 00s). If you don't actively defend it (somewhat), you lose the ability to defend it later on. So its probably a precaution for just that. Nothing more than showing their teeth.

dagmx · Answer

This is a misunderstanding of trademark.
You are only likely to be sued if you are using it in a way to cause confusion with the brand itself. Like selling product as official merch or trying to make money off being associated with rust.
The document goes to great pains to express all the ways you can still use it.
Tl;dr: this is very boilerplate and similar to many other open source projects. If you’re not trying to capitalize off the brand, then don’t worry about it