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Comment by m4rc1e | Hacker News Reader

While I'm all for FOSS, I wouldn't use these. Branding is not the same as writing software, you're entering a den of protectionism, http://www.businessinsider.com/colors-that-are-trademarked-2.... Using these will result in a cease and desist if your product catches on.

Fyi, used to work in branding and trademark disputes were common.

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Is that true for open source software that is not making any money? I would be very surprised if a big company went after someone maintaining an open source project.

That would be some pretty terrible PR:

“Billion dollar company X sues open source developer because the shade of blue used in their logo is too similar.

A spokesperson for X said that ‘Although they are releasing this software for free to help the community, we can’t have people being confused about the shade of blue they used.’”

It almost sounds like an Onion article to me.

It's reality: http://www.dw.com/en/german-caf%C3%A9-owner-takes-on-apple-a...

No. That’s the opposite. That’s a small company taking on a big one and winning. The OP that I was replying to was talking about big companies going after minnows.

Apple initially went after the small shop in this story.

I see (sorry I skimmed it before). From the looks of it it seems she got a lot of support though because of that.

It’s a little different too since she was actually selling products with her logo on them vs. developing free software, but good point.

Maybe not a small open source project but I'd be careful.

https://nypost.com/2017/05/20/paypal-sues-pandora-over-simil...

http://designtaxi.com/news/361608/Starbucks-Sues-Bangkok-Cof...

https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/15-21-january-2018/formu...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-sues-over-copied-air-jorda...

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