The Rust Foundation goes to war against people using the word "Rust"

Date:
Wed, 12 Apr 2023 21:34:17 GMT

Description:
Seriously. The title of this article violates the new Rust Trademark Policy. It's insane.

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The Rust Foundation the governing organization behind the Rust programming language has done something truly peculiar they appear to have waged war on anyone mentioning Rust.

Seriously. They dont want anyone talking about the one thing they do.

This is not a joke . It is not satire.

This is a very real and very weird thing that The Rust Foundation which
has a full time, paid staff and paid membership (which includes purchased Board of Director seats) from the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Huawei, and Microsoft is doing.

The foundation is working on finalizing a new Rust Trademark Policy which
does some absolutely bonkers things. Heres just a small sampling of the insanity:

Unless explicitly approved, use of the Rust name or Logo is not allowed for the purposes of selling products/promotional goods for gain/profit, or for registering domain names. For example, it is not permitted to sell stickers
of the Rust logo in an online shop for your personal profit.

Thats right. Want to sell stickers with Rust on it? T-Shirts? Posters? No sir.

Wait. Does it say that you cant use the word Rust in a domain name?

That cant be real can it?

They dont leave any ambiguity there

Am I prohibited from registering my own trademark/a domain name /company name/trade name/product name/service name that includes the word Rust in reference to the language?

The use of Rust Foundation trademarks is not permitted for use in any of
these situations.

Am I prohibited from registering my own domain name that includes the word Rust?

Not permitted.

In other words: RustIsAGreatProgrammingLanguage.org is not allowed by The
Rust Foundation.

Is that the stupidest policy any programming language has ever had? Quite possibly.

But, just wait! It gets even better!

Using the [word Rust] in the name of a tool for use in the Rust toolchain, a software program written in the Rust language, or a software program compatible with Rust software, will most likely require a license.

What exactly does that mean?

It means that libraries with the word Rust in them are banned. As are
plugins for IDEs. And any other tool that might be a part of the Rust toolchain or ecosystem.

openssl-rust? rust-mysql? eclipse-rust?

All are explicitly banned unless you contact The Rust Foundation and, presumably, pay for a special license.

I dont believe I have ever seen a programming language explicitly forbid programming tools and libraries from using the name of the language. That is incredibly weird.

And stupid. Almost beyond words.

Now. How about conferences and festivals?

We will consider requests to use the [word Rust within a conference] on a
case by case basis, but at a minimum, would expect events and conferences using the [word Rust] to be non-profit-making, focused on discussion of, and education on, Rust software, prohibit the carrying of firearms , comply with local health regulations , and have a robust Code of Conduct .

Planning to run an event that celebrates how much you love Rust?

Maybe . It will be considered but only if you follow a very specific, and narrow, set of rules and comply with the personal politics of The Rust Foundation.

How weird is that? Why on earth would a programming language care about such things?

Remember that Javascript conference that was forbidden from being held
because the organizers didnt publicly support specific tax credit
legislation? Yeah. Me neither. Weird.

You can use the Rust name in book and article titles, and the Logo in illustrations within the work, as long as the use does not suggest that the Rust Foundation has published, endorsed, or agrees with your work. We require this to be stated up front (i.e. before the first paragraph or page of your work) in a clear and dedicated space .

You may use the following language or a close variation of it:

Disclosure: The material in this {book/paper/blog/article} has not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved of by the Rust Foundation. For more information on the Rust Foundation Trademark Policy, click here.

I use the word Rust in the title for this article.

According to the trademark policy from The Rust Foundation I am required to state before the first paragraph that The Rust Foundation has not endorsed or agreed with this article.

But I dont do that. Because it is an absolutely stupid and completely unenforceable policy. Which The Rust Foundation would know if they had any experience in working with trademarks whatsoever.

Is this article in violation of their unreasonable, unenforceable, and
poorly thought out trademark policy?

Yes. Yes, it is.

Does The Lunduke Journal care?

No. No, The Lunduke Journal does not.

Hey, Rust Foundation. Want to come after me for violating your Trademark Policy? Do it. I double dog dare you.

One final bit of ridiculousness

In general, we prohibit the modification of the Rust logo for any purpose , except to scale it. This includes distortion, transparency, color-changes affiliated with for-profit brands or political ideologies.

On the other hand, if you would like to change the colors of the Rust logo to communicate allegiance with a community movement, we simply ask that you run the proposed logo change by us by emailing the file to contact@rustfoundation.org with a description of the changes youre proposing. In the future, we intend to publish new versions of the Rust logo to accord with community movements (ex: LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, Black Lives Matter,
etc.).

Short version:

You cant tweak or utilize the Rust logo. Period.

But if you want to make a version for your particular political leanings The Rust Foundation will consider it. And, if the foundation agrees with you , they may allow it.

Likewise, The Rust Foundation will be creating versions of the Rust logo for political causes they agree with.

All of which has the effect of turning The Rust Foundation into an explicitly political organization with well delineated rules about who is good and who is bad.

Now I have no problem with people having political leanings. None at all.
But this is a programming language . Which makes all of this quite strange.

I dont remember the last time C++ told me I needed to vote a certain way.

But, I suppose, none of that actually matters.

Because we are forbidden from having Rust websites, Rust libraries, Rust extensions, Rust books, Rust articles, Rust podcasts, Rust stickers, Rust conferences

The first rule of Rust is you dont talk about Rust. Subscribe now Subscribe now

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Link to news story: https://lunduke.substack.com/p/the-rust-foundation-goes-to-war-against


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