The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) has initiated legal action against Synadia, the primary contributor to the open source messaging system NATS, over trademark rights. This follows Synadia's decision to modify the NATS server license from Apache 2.0 to a Business Source License (BSL). In response, Synadia has requested to end its affiliation with CNCF and claims ownership over the NATS.io domain. CNCF contends that all trademarks should be controlled by the Linux Foundation per their charter and has proposed several paths for Synadia that align with open source governance.
CNCF has filed a petition to prevent Synadia from using the NATS logo and domain after Synadia changed the licensing from Apache 2.0 to BSL.
The letter from Synadia's lawyers argues that control over a domain does not establish trademark rights, claiming they have always controlled the website's content.
CNCF emphasizes its charter requires that all projects transfer ownership of their trademark and logo assets to the Linux Foundation when joined.
CNCF offers Synadia options to continue while respecting open source principles, stating Synadia could fork NATS but cannot reclaim community infrastructure.
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