Doc’s WordPress News Drop is a weekly report on the most pressing WordPress news. When the news drops, I will pick it up and deliver it right to you.
Many folks ask us about how and when they can use the WordPress logo, so in this week’s News Drop, Doc helps break it down into a few simple rules.
“When can you use the WordPress trademark?”
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In 2015, the WordPress Foundation sued The WordPress Helpers for trademark infringement. The interesting thing is that WordPress Helpers were using the term before the WordPress trademark was even, uh, trademarked.
There’s been a lot of confusion over when it’s acceptable to use the term WordPress, so this week we are going to dive into the best practices according to the WordPress Foundation, the sacred protectors of the term.1) Never in your domain name-
Unless you are WordPress.com, WordPress.org, WordPress.TV, or WordPressFoundation, you shouldn’t use WordPress in your top level domain. Sub domains, like wordpress.torquemag.io are permitted, but for everything else it’s best practice to use WP instead of WordPress. WPsnacks, WPpets, WPfolksongs, etc.
Bonus fact: using WP makes yours domain 7 letters shorter.2) Probably not in your name at all-
Similar to your TLD, the WordPress Foundation requests that you not use the WordPress or WordCamp name or logo as part of any project, product, service, or company name. A few exceptions are made for this, so if your project is primarily non-commercial, and you aren’t affiliated with a commercial entity, you may reach out to the WordPress Foundation to see if they’ll grant you permission. As with the first rule, it’s probably best to just use WP instead.3) Use an uppercase P-
Camel casing is the practice of writing compound words, such as FedEx, in a way where each word has a capital letter. WordPress is intended to be camelcased, so remember to always capitalize the P.Also, remember what it feels like to be a newcomer to a community. If you see somebody using a lowercase “p”, don’t be a jerk to them. Just remind them of the standard. I remember the first time I asked a WordPress question online and someone ripped into me for not using an uppercase p. They didn’t even answer the question! That was a bad way to stumble into a new community, don’t be that guy.
4) Use the correct logo and colors-
You can visit http://wordpressfoundation.org/trademark-policy/ to find the up to date version of the full WordPress logo. You can also find the simplified W version, plus all of the accepted colors.Recap:
So I guess a quick recap of all of this would be “don’t use WordPress or WordCamp in your name, and especially not in your domain name. You can display the trademark on your site, but be sure to use the correct logo and colors when applicable”.I hope that helps. If this video helped you out, please like it and subscribe for more WP news.
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