Skip to content
This repository has been archived by the owner on Jan 11, 2023. It is now read-only.

Trademark issues

Jump to bottom
Jake Vis edited this page May 15, 2020 · 4 revisions

Trademark Issues

It sucks I have to make this post - but it needs to be documented. Notepad++ was kindly written and made public under GPL in 2003 by Don Ho. This is amazing software and this repo exists solely to continue bringing notepad++ to more users globally.

In 2013 a trademark was filed by an individual (not a company) in France for the term "Notepad++". The record of this is here: http://bases-marques.inpi.fr/Typo3_INPI_Marques/marques_fiche_resultats.html?id=FR4016687

A couple of points... notepad++ was first released, and forked by the public, 10 years before this trademark came into effect and this trademark is only registered in France. The Notepad++ logo (icon) is included in the repo, and hence is also covered under GPL.

Woofy LLC is a US LLC - and the trademark is not valid or registered in the US. Also since the term Notepad++ was used in association with software (this GPL software), for 10 years before registration, the trademark is almost certainly unenforceable.

Clone this wiki locally