Latest update November 28, 2023

This document is intended to serve as a guide to referring to Open Mainframe Project, a member organization’s participation, an individual code contributor’s participation, and the projects hosted by Open Mainframe Project in marketing and communication materials.

High resolution versions of Open Mainframe Project and its hosted project logos can be accessed at artwork.openmainframeproject.org. A slide deck template that can be used for presentations can be accessed here.

Relationship of Open Mainframe Project and its hosted projects

Open Mainframe Project is hosted by the Linux Foundation. As part of the Open Mainframe Project’s charter, it hosts multiple open source projects and initiatives for the benefit of the open source and mainframe communities. The latest list of projects is at https://github.com/openmainframeproject/tsc#tsc-projects.

Each project hosted at Open Mainframe Project is self-governed with oversight by the Open Mainframe Project’s Technical Steering Committee (TSC) as outlined in the charter and the TSC’s project lifecycle guidelines. The Linux Foundation is the legal entity that owns and manages the brand assets for the hosted projects. The copyrights in contributions to Open Mainframe Project’s hosted projects, such as source code and documentation, remain owned by the original authors and are licensed to the projects and downstream users under OSI approved open source licenses.

Why Consistency Matters

Open source projects use trademarks – such as the project’s name and logos – as ways to designate the project community and the community assets that are developed together in a public, collaborative fashion. A name or a logo communicates to the world that a codebase, or an event, or something else, reflects the collaborative open source project’s community and not any one single participant’s own offerings.

As a result, and because of some of the requirements that are necessary to preserve the project’s name and logos under trademark laws, the project aims to ensure consistency of usage to avoid confusion – especially, potential confusion in the delineation between what is provided by the project community, and what is a separate product or service offering provided by a participant, a contributor, or a downstream user or redistributor of the project code.

The project has in place some basic guidelines regarding proper and improper usage of its trademarks, with an aim towards balancing, on the one hand, the need to ensure that the project trademarks remain reliable indicators of the qualities that they have been created to preserve; and, on the other hand, the need to ensure that community members are able to discuss the project and to accurately describe the relationship between The Linux Foundation and Open Mainframe Project, and the products and services offered by others.

Branding Guides

In addition to the generally applicable rules discussed in The Linux Foundation Trademark Usage Guidelines, there are a few specific rules that we ask everyone to follow when using trademarks or project names related to Zowe or any other projects hosted by Open Mainframe Project, or Open Mainframe Project itself.

• Do mention Open Mainframe Project with the first reference to any Open Mainframe Project hosted project with content you create (such as website copy, press releases, blogs, or collateral) (e.g., “Project ABC, hosted by Open Mainframe Project”) and do use “Open Mainframe Project” when referring to the organization (e.g., “XYZ Company is a member of Open Mainframe Project”).
• When referring to an Open Mainframe Project hosted project, do use the full project name (e.g., “XYZ Company uses Open Mainframe Project’s Project ABC”). When there is a need to refer to an Open Mainframe Project project in a less verbose manner (such as in a social tile title, session title, or event title), please work with the Open Mainframe Project’s PR team for specific guidance at pr@openmainframeproject.org.
• Do help promote Open Mainframe Project in a vendor-neutral way. Where necessary to highlight the initial code contributor, you can use the name of the codebase followed by “the technology initially contributed by …” (e.g., “Project ABC, the technology initially contributed by …”); however, as described in further detail below, you should not state or imply that the project belongs to any single contributor.
• Don’t use “Open Mainframe Project” or any Open Mainframe Project hosted project name in a misleading way, such as:
  • Don’t use any Open Mainframe Project hosted project name in connection with any products or services that are not related to, built for or associated with the software projects hosted by Open Mainframe Project.
  • Don’t use a company name possessively with the Open Mainframe Project hosted project (e.g., “XYZ Company’s Open Mainframe Project”, “XYZ Company’s Project ABC”, or “Project ABC by XYZ Company”).
  • Don’t use “Open Mainframe Project” or an Open Mainframe Project hosted project name (1) in a way that creates a sense of endorsement, sponsorship, or false association with Open Mainframe Project (e.g., “Open Mainframe Project or Project ABC approved,” “Open Mainframe Project or Project ABC certified,” “a product by an Open Mainframe Project member”); or (2) in connection with a project that has not been accepted into the Open Mainframe Project organization; or (3) in connection with a product that is not a conformant offering (where defined in a project’s conformance program materials).
  • Don’t deliberately give the impression that a company is the “main” company behind an Open Mainframe Project hosted project. Don’t associate Open Mainframe Project or an Open Mainframe Project hosted project with a single project or company.
  • Don’t use a mark in a way that is otherwise harmful to the Open Mainframe Project organization, its members or other projects.
  • Don’t use a mark to promote an event that is not managed/hosted by the Linux Foundation or Open Mainframe Project ( e.g., “Zowe Day at EVENTNAME”, “Zowe talk track” at an event, or “Open Mainframe Summit” at an event), without prior approval from Open Mainframe Project and compliance with any additional specific guidelines that the Project may provide.
• If a project provides a logo for use in an icon format, note that it’s use is intended only for use where an icon is most appropriate ( such as within an application ). Please work with pr@openmainframeproject.org to review if there are questions or concerns.

Do I need permission to talk publicly about Open Mainframe Project or the hosted projects?

No. Anyone is free to talk publicly about Open Mainframe Project and its hosted projects without restriction.

All we ask is that, when you use the organization’s and projects’ names, logos and trademarks in connection with providing goods and services, that you do so in an appropriate manner that is consistent with maintaining the goodwill associated with them. To help ensure this, we do request you contact us at pr@openmainframeproject.org for review for the following:

• All press releases that use Open Mainframe Project or an Open Mainframe Project hosted project trademark (registered or otherwise).
• Use of Open Mainframe Project brands on your own web pages in connection with a product or service offering.
• Marketing collateral within which you plan to use the words “Open Mainframe Project” or any of our project names or logos.