The PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada (PGCAC) would like to provide an update on the previous announcement regarding trademark actions taken by the 3rd-party organization Fundación PostgreSQL against the PostgreSQL community. You can find the original summary of the actions here:
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/trademark-actions-against-the-postgresql-community-2302/
After this announcement, on September 14, 2021, Fundación PostgreSQL wrote to the Core Team and made a public statement that it would "start the process to transfer, permanently and irrevocably, all PostgreSQL-related trademarks and domain names to the PostgreSQL [Community] Association of Canada, with no conditions or costs attached."
PGCAC has been in a process of negotiating a settlement with Fundación PostgreSQL on the use of the "POSTGRESQL" family of trademarks. As of the publication of this announcement, we have not reached an agreement. Additionally, Fundación PostgreSQL has not honored its public or private statements to transfer any of its PostgreSQL-related trademark applications or domains to PGCAC.
This issue has been costly to the PostgreSQL community in both money and time. As part of the proposed settlement, PGCAC requested reimbursement for only the statutory filing fees related to the trademark opposition. While this amount would not cover the full cost of the dispute, it would offset some of the costs that the PostgreSQL community incurred.
Fundación PostgreSQL has claimed that these costs could have been avoided had PGCAC negotiated with Fundación PostgreSQL after PGCAC discovered Fundación PostgreSQL’s trademark applications. However, Fundación PostgreSQL filing infringing trademark applications for "POSTGRESQL", "POSTGRES", and "POSTGRESQL COMMUNITY" was an immediate escalation into a serious legal issue.
PGCAC’s legal counsel has spent months trying to get an answer from Fundación PostgreSQL on settlement terms. When Fundación PostgreSQL replied, it rejected the majority of the settlement terms and added a number of additional ones. However, Fundación PostgreSQL did maintain that they would withdraw the trademark applications regardless of the outcome of a formal settlement.
PGCAC, through its legal counsel, continued to reach out to see if Fundación PostgreSQL would withdraw the trademark applications. When contacted prior to this announcement, Fundación PostgreSQL through its counsel indicated that they had no interest in honoring its word on withdrawing the trademark applications. As of the publication of this update, these applications have not been withdrawn.
PGCAC would like to see Fundación PostgreSQL honor its statements on withdrawing the trademark applications and transferring domains. The PostgreSQL community would like to see this matter concluded so we can focus resources into other parts of the project.
If you have any questions on the PostgreSQL trademark policy, please reach out to the PGCAC board.