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Severed Fifth Trademark Policy

The objective of the Severed Fifth trademark policy is to encourage widespread use of the Severed Fifth trademarks by the Severed Fifth community while controlling that use in order to avoid confusion on the part of Severed Fifth fans and the general public, to maintain the value of the image and reputation of the trademarks and to protect them from inappropriate or unauthorised use.

The sections below describe what is allowed, what isn't allowed, and cases in which you should ask permission. If you have any doubt, please contact us at trademarks@severedfifth.com.

The Trademarks

Jono Bacon owns a number of trademarks and these include Severed Fifth, SEVERED FIFTH, Severed 5th, SEVERED 5TH and a number of visual artefacts. The trademarks are owned in both word and logo form. With any mark beginning or ending with the letters Severed Fifth or is sufficiently similar to one or more of the trademarks, permission will be needed in order to use it. This policy encompasses all marks, in word and logo form, collectively referred to as "Trademarks".

Permitted Use

Certain usages of the Trademarks are fine and no specific permission from us is needed.

Community Advocacy. Severed Fifth has strong community involvement. We share access to the Trademarks with the entire community for the purposes of discussion, development and advocacy. We recognise that most of the free culture discussion and development areas are for non-commercial purposes and will allow the use of the trademarks in this context, provided:

• the Trademark is used in a manner consistent with the Usage Guidelines below
• there is no commercial intent behind the use
• what you are referring to is in fact Severed Fifth. If someone is confused into thinking that what isn't Severed Fifth is in fact Severed Fifth, you are probably doing something wrong.
• there is no suggestion (through words or appearance) that your project is approved, sponsored, or affiliated with Severed Fifth or its related projects.

Derived works. The ability to use Severed Fifth content to meet your specific needs is one of the great strengths of free culture in general. While we encourage derivation of Severed Fifth content, we must balance that freedom with the integrity of the Trademarks. As such, derived content must provide suitable attribution to Severed Fifth as described in the Licensing Terms but the content must be not published under the Severed Fifth trademark - the Severed Fifth trademark must be purely used for attribution purposes.

Commentary and parody. The Severed Fifth trademarks are designed to cover use of a mark to imply origin or endorsement by the project. When a user downloads or purchases something called Severed Fifth, they should know it comes from Severed Fifth. This helps Severed Fifth build a reputation that will not be damaged by confusion around what is, and isn't, Severed Fifth. Using the trademarks in your discussion, commentary, criticism or parody, in ways that unequivocally do not imply endorsement, is permissible. Anyone is free to write articles, create websites, blog about, or talk about Severed Fifth -- as long as it's clear to everyone -- including people completely unfamiliar with Severed Fifth -- that they are simply referring to Severed Fifth and in no way speaking for Severed Fifth.

We reserve the right to review all usage and to object to any usage that appears to overstep the bounds of discussion and good-faith non-commercial development. In any event, once an effort has left the community project phase or otherwise become a commercial project, this policy does not authorize any use of the Trademarks in connection to that project. Restricted use that requires a trademark license.

Permission from us is necessary to use any of the Trademarks under any circumstances other than those specifically permitted above. These include:

• Any commercial use
• Use on or in relation to a software product that includes or is built on top of a product supplied by us, if there is any commercial intent associated with that product.
• Use in a domain name or URL.
• Use for merchandising purposes, e.g. on t-shirts and the like.
• Services relating to any of the above.

If you wish to have permission for any of the uses above or for any other use which is not specifically referred to in this policy, please email us at trademarks AT severedfifth DOT com and we'll let you know as soon as possible if your proposed use is permissible. Note that due to the volume of mail we receive, it may take up to a week to process your request. Permission may only be granted subject to certain conditions and these may include the requirement that you enter into an agreement with us to maintain the quality of the product and/or service which you intend to supply at a prescribed level.

While there may be exceptions, it is very unlikely that we will approve Trademark use in the following cases:

• Use of a Trademark in a company name.
• Use of a Trademark in a domain name which has a commercial intent. The commercial intent can range from promotion of a company or product, to collecting revenue generated by advertising.
• The calling of any software or product by the name Severed Fifth (or another related Trademark), unless that software or product is a substantially unmodified Severed Fifth product, or properly labelled as a "Remix" as described above.
• Use in combination with any other marks or logos. This include use of a Trademark in a manner that creates a "combined mark," or use that integrates other wording with the Trademark in a way that the public may think of the use as a new mark (for example Club Severed Fifth, or in a way that by use of special fonts or presentation with nearby words or images conveys an impression that the two are tied in some way).
• Use in combination with any product or service which is presented as being Certified or Official or formally associated with us or our products or services.
• Use in a way which implies an endorsement where that doesn't exist, or which attempts to unfairly or confusingly capitalise on the goodwill or brand of the project.
• Use of a Trademark in a manner that disparages Severed Fifth or its products and is not clearly third-party parody.
• In a title or metatag of a web page whose sole intention or result is to influence search engine rankings or result listings, rather than for discussion, development or advocacy of the Trademarks.