OSI enforcement? (Was Re: Microsoft use of the term "Open Source")

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Romain Berrendonner (romain at berrendonner.org):

> I don't know who monitoring what, but if you want to have a look at the 
> trademarks registered in France and containing the words "Open Source" 
> in class 42, have a look at the site below:
> 
> http://www.societe.com/cgi-bin/consultlist?mark=open+source&typesrch=exact&regist=&cl1=42&cl2=&cl3=&clop=or&imageField.x=0&imageField.y=0
> 
> As far as I can see, there are 23 trademarks *containing* "Open Source".
> This would probably mean that the sole "Open Source" words would not be 
> distinctive enough to make a valid registered trademark of their own. 

My French is good enough to enjoy old Simenon detective novels, but I
don't trust it for reading legal/regulatory Web sites.  However, at
first glance, it looks to me as if not one of those 23 is a
certification mark; they all appear to concern goods and services.

Anyway, I'm not particularly familiar with French trademark law, 
so I can't say of a certainty that your notion of "distinctiveness" is 
out of step with the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle's
criteria, but I rather suspect it is.