This document answers some of Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the ASF's trademarks and their allowable uses. Be sure to review our formal Trademark Policy document, which outlines important requirements for any uses of Apache project marks.
The following information helps ensure our marks and logos are used in approved ways, while making it easy for the community to understand the guidelines. If you have any questions about the use of logos or trademarks, see our trademark resources or contact us.
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See Also: Trademark Resources Site Map.
Yes, the names of all Apache® projects, software products, and their logos are trademarks that the Apache Software Foundation owns on behalf of our project communities. Note that while some Apache project names and logos are registered in the US and various countries, even unregistered names and logos are still trademarks of the ASF and should be treated with respect.
Apache project names have the form "Apache Projectname", for example Apache Hadoop® and Apache OpenOffice®. Read our detailed guide for referring to Apache project and product names. Using the full "Apache Projectname" helps ensure that our volunteer project communities get the credit they deserve.
To properly attribute Apache marks, and to ensure that the volunteer communities that build Apache software get the credit they deserve, place prominent trademark attributions wherever you use Apache marks. On websites, add hyperlinks to the relevant project homepage and to the ASF. For example, to provide an attribution for Apache Hadoop and its yellow elephant logo (using basic HTML with hyperlinks):
Apache®, Apache Hadoop, Hadoop®, and the yellow elephant logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries.
In text, use Apache Lucene® in the first and most prominent uses because it is a registered trademark; some other Apache project names like Apache Zookeeper™ are unregistered but are still considered trademarks of the ASF.
Here is a complete list of trademarks claimed by the ASF.
In general, yes, as long as you comply with the rest of Apache trademark policies, in particular in regard to not claiming association or endorsement of/for/by the ASF. For more details or for explicit permissions, contact us.
The ASF generally requires that you refer to Apache products using the full "Apache Tomcat®" form of its name, especially in prominent places like book titles. However, we do understand that some publishing houses may have specific standards for book titles that prevent this for traditionally printed and bound books. In that case, and only for traditionally printed and bound books, using the bare product name as "Tomcat®" is acceptable as long as there is clear attribution of both forms of the name.
You must include a trademark attribution on the obverse title page or wherever you acknowledge other trademarks and copyrights. A preferred attribution would be:
Apache®, Apache Tomcat, Tomcat®, and the cat logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. No endorsement by The Apache Software Foundation is implied by the use of these marks.
You may not use the title or presentation of the book's cover, front matter, or other contents to imply association with, endorsement of/by, or any other exclusive or special connection with the ASF or the project's community or product.
We do not require the payment of a royalty for the use of Apache marks or other IP in regularly published books. We certainly do appreciate royalty donations, and a number of publishers have set up systems to donate royalties from their books back to the ASF. You can read more about Donating to the ASF.
Yes, as long as you follow the rest of our formal Trademark Policy. Note that you may not use Apache product word marks as part of any software product name. In particular, you must ensure that you follow our Apache name usage guide and:
Use the unmodified ASF product logo made available for this purpose on the Apache website or on the ASF project's homepage. If you do not find the ASF product logo you want in that collection, ask the ASF project team to add it there.
If you describe the ASF product or project in text, use the "Apache Flink®" form of its name.
Do not visually combine the ASF product logo with any other images, and do not change the appearance of ASF product logos except in cases where it is required by a specific printing restriction (e.g. printing on paper in black and white).
On your website link any Apache project logo to the homepage for that Apache project on the apache.org website.
Include a trademark attribution to Apache Software Foundation in an appropriate place on every page where you identify your own trademarks.
Ensure that your website and marketing materials do not imply ASF endorsement or the affiliation of your products, services, or organization with ASF.
Ensure that your website and marketing materials do not confuse the average user about the source of ASF products or imply that ASF is associated with your products or services in any way.
See also the Powered By Apache logo program.
No, you may not use Apache trademarks - the names of any project or software product releases from the ASF - in the primary or secondary branding of any third party product or service names. For example, you may not name a product either "BigCo Project Thing", "BigCo distribution of Project", or any similar kind of name where Project is any Apache mark or project name.
The primary mission of the ASF is to provide free software for the public good under our Apache License. Consumer confusion over the source of Apache software products is a serious issue for the ASF. Both for consumers trying to find Apache products, and for the communities and PMCs that build our products, the name and logo association of Apache marks with our actual project communities and products is important to us.
We understand the importance in our ecosystem of third parties building software products on or in conjunction with Apache products. If you build such software products, see the next question about our "Powered by..." program.
Generally, no. If you distribute modified versions of Apache Software you must do so under a new name. There are limited circumstance where this is permitted which are set out in the Apache Downstream Distribution Policy.
Yes, under certain circumstances, you may use the Powered by... phrase or a project-specific Powered by... logo in direct conjunction with your software product or service's primary branding. This applies for all Apache project names and the Powered By... variation (inside a circle with Powered By Apache around the outside) of their logos.
Third parties providing products or services that are supersets of the functionality of an Apache product, or services that run atop Apache products, may use any "Powered by..." form of the Apache brand name of the related product. For example, "BigCo SuperThing, Powered by Apache Spark" would be acceptable, provided that you meet all of the other requirements:
Any primary product home pages or landing pages for the SuperThing product must include a link from the homepage named "Apache Spark" pointing to the actual Apache project home page at http://spark.apache.org/ Note that you must include "Apache" before the product mark.
You product name must consistently use the "Apache Spark" version of the Apache product name and follow the Apache Project brand usage guide.
Do not visually combine the ASF product's Powered by... logo with any other images, or change the logo in any way other than ways required by printing restrictions.
On your website link any Powered by... logo to the homepage for the ASF project on the apache.org website.
Include a trademark attribution to the Apache Software Foundation on the page itself (footers are acceptable; links with attributions on separate pages are not).
Ensure that your website and marketing materials do not imply ASF endorsement or the affiliation of your products, services, or organization with ASF.
Ensure that your website and marketing materials do not confuse the average user about the source of ASF products or imply that ASF is associated with your products or services in any way, other than the fact that your product is built atop/to work with the Apache product.
See also the Apache Project brand usage guide for more requirements.
Various Apache projects include a "Powered by..."-specific logo for their product(s). If the product you are interested in doesn't provide a Powered by... logo, ask the relevant PMC to consider creating one.
NOTE: Use of an Apache product's normal logo (i.e. the non Powered-by) is not permissible to directly denote products or services, even those built atop an Apache product. You must not visually combine or directly associate Apache products' normal logos with third-party product logos.
See also the Powered By Apache logo page for details about logo usage.
No. The Apache feather logo (old horizontal version, or new vertical version) is a special trademark to the members of the Apache Software Foundation. You may not use the feather logo on the external covers or title pages of books or similar printed materials.
Use of Apache project logos on the external cover or title pages of books or similar printed materials is allowed only with permission; to request this, contact us with a mockup of the cover and other details about your publication.
We understand the importance in our ecosystem of authors publishing informational books about Apache products, and the value that can bring in terms of new contributors to our communities. However, you must take care to use Apache product logos in descriptive ways, without implying any association or endorsement, and without implying that your book is an official or sole source of information about any Apache product.
In general, yes, as long as you comply with the rest of the Apache trademark policies, in particular in regard to not claiming association or endorsement of/for/by the ASF. For more details or for explicit permissions when legally required, contact us.
The ASF prefers that you refer to Apache products using the full "Apache Ignite" form of the product name, at least in the first or most prominent uses within a book, chapter, article, or other section of a larger published work; see the Apache Project brand usage guide for details.
You may use screenshots, program output, and other displays created by or taken of Apache products in use in descriptive ways in the content of publications. Such use may include Apache product logos as they normally display in the product in question.
You must include a trademark attribution on the obverse title page or wherever you acknowledge other trademarks and copyrights. A preferred attribution would be:
Apache®, Apache Ignite, Ignite, and the flame logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. No endorsement by The Apache Software Foundation is implied by the use of these marks.
Yes, as long as you comply with the rest of Apache trademark policies, in particular in regard to not claiming association or endorsement of/for/by the ASF. For more details or for explicit permissions when legally required, contact us.
As long as uses of Apache trademarks or logos are clear in referring to the software products produced by the ASF, the ASF position is that this FAQ should constitute sufficient permissions for non-profit academic and scholarly papers and publications to use our trademarks in all respectful ways. We appreciate the researchers and students who want to use Apache software products to further human knowledge.
That depends on your goals. Many groups donate existing projects to the Apache Incubator, to become podlings and, we hope eventually become official Apache top level projects (TLPs). When you have an existing project that has a well-known brand and associated trademarks or registrations, the donor needs to decide if they also wish to donate all trademarks with the project, or if they will keep the trademarks, and have the new podling choose a new name and brand. For a podling to graduate and become a TLP, the ASF must own all trademark rights to the podling's brand.
If you donate the brand with the project, the ASF must have full legal ownership of all brand elements before graduation. It becomes an Apache brand, and the donor will not be allowed to claim any special relationship with the trademarks going forward.
If you keep the brand, the podling will need to choose a new name as it starts the incubation process. This allows you to keep the goodwill from your existing brand, but means that the podling will likely have to work harder to grow the diverse community that the Incubation process is designed to show.
One of the graduation criteria for podlings to TLP status is that the ASF own all trademark rights and goodwill to the podling's brand. Since the incubation process takes a number of months, the recommended way to transfer trademarks and any pre-existing registrations is:
In the incubation proposal, explicitly note that the donor organization is planning to donate all trademarks and goodwill. Include a list of all trademarks, especially any registrations or applications outstanding.
After the ASF accepts the podling for incubation, has imported the code, and published a website, have an officer of the donating organization contact us via email to explicitly state that you will be transferring all trademarks. This gives the ASF assurance of the transfer, but does not require the donor to legally assign the trademarks until the podling nears graduation. Also, list the trademarks and donor organization in the PODLINGNAMESEARCH when that issue is created as part of the incubation process.
Before the podling is ready to graduate, have donor counsel contact us to sign a standard trademark transfer agreement in the US, where the ASF is headquartered. As the ASF is a non-profit, we appreciate any assistance in processing the transfer, especially of applications in process. The legal transfer must be signed before the podling can formally graduate, typically at a monthly board meeting.
IMPORTANT: If you are considering submitting a new registration application during the incubation process, you must coordinate with VP, Brand and ASF counsel.
See our formal Trademark Policy and our site map of all Trademark resources.
Nothing in this ASF policy statement shall be interpreted to allow any third party to claim any association with the Apache Software Foundation or any of its projects, or to imply any approval or support by ASF for any third party products, services, or events.