The Rust Foundation goes to war against people using the word "Rust"
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The Rust Foundation goes to war against people using the word "Rust"
Seriously. The title of this article violates the new Rust Trademark Policy. It's insane.
The Rust Foundation — the governing organization behind the Rust programming language — has done something truly peculiar… they appear to have waged war on anyone mentioning “Rust”.
Seriously. They don’t want anyone talking about the one thing they do.
This is not a joke. It is not satire.
This is a very real — and very weird — thing that The Rust Foundation — which has a full time, paid staff and paid membership (which includes purchased Board of Director seats) from the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Huawei, and Microsoft — is doing.
The foundation is working on finalizing a new “Rust Trademark Policy” which does some absolutely bonkers things. Here’s just a small sampling of the insanity:
“Unless explicitly approved, use of the Rust name or Logo is not allowed for the purposes of selling products/promotional goods for gain/profit, or for registering domain names. For example, it is not permitted to sell stickers of the Rust logo in an online shop for your personal profit.”
That’s right. Want to sell stickers with “Rust” on it? T-Shirts? Posters? No sir.
Wait. Does it say that you can’t use the word “Rust” in a domain name?
That can’t be real… can it?
They don’t leave any ambiguity there…
“Am I prohibited from registering my own trademark/a domain name/company name/trade name/product name/service name that includes the word “Rust” in reference to the language?
The use of Rust Foundation trademarks is not permitted for use in any of these situations.”
“Am I prohibited from registering my own domain name that includes the word “Rust”?
Not permitted.
In other words: RustIsAGreatProgrammingLanguage.org is not allowed by The Rust Foundation.
Is that the stupidest policy any programming language has ever had? Quite possibly.
But, just wait! It gets even better!
“Using the [word “Rust”] in the name of a tool for use in the Rust toolchain, a software program written in the Rust language, or a software program compatible with Rust software, will most likely require a license.”
What exactly does that mean?
It means that libraries with the word “Rust” in them are banned. As are plugins for IDEs. And any other tool that might be a part of the Rust toolchain or ecosystem.
openssl-rust? rust-mysql? eclipse-rust?
All are explicitly banned… unless you contact The Rust Foundation and, presumably, pay for a special “license”.
I don’t believe I have ever seen a programming language explicitly forbid programming tools and libraries from using the name of the language. That is incredibly weird.
And stupid. Almost beyond words.
Now. How about conferences and festivals?
“We will consider requests to use the [word “Rust” within a conference] on a case by case basis, but at a minimum, would expect events and conferences using the [word “Rust”] to be non-profit-making, focused on discussion of, and education on, Rust software, prohibit the carrying of firearms, comply with local health regulations, and have a robust Code of Conduct.”
Planning to run an event that celebrates how much you love Rust?
Maybe. It will be considered… but only if you follow a very specific, and narrow, set of rules and comply with the personal politics of The Rust Foundation.
How weird is that? Why on earth would a programming language care about such things?
Remember that Javascript conference that was forbidden from being held because the organizers didn’t publicly support specific tax credit legislation? Yeah. Me neither. Weird.
“You can use the Rust name in book and article titles, and the Logo in illustrations within the work, as long as the use does not suggest that the Rust Foundation has published, endorsed, or agrees with your work. We require this to be stated up front (i.e. before the first paragraph or page of your work) in a clear and dedicated space.”
You may use the following language or a close variation of it:
Disclosure: The material in this {book/paper/blog/article} has not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved of by the Rust Foundation. For more information on the Rust Foundation Trademark Policy, click here.
I use the word “Rust” in the title for this article.
According to the trademark policy from The Rust Foundation… I am required to state — before the first paragraph — that The Rust Foundation has not endorsed or agreed with this article.
But I don’t do that. Because it is an absolutely stupid — and completely unenforceable — policy. Which The Rust Foundation would know if they had any experience in working with trademarks whatsoever.
Is this article in violation of their — unreasonable, unenforceable, and poorly thought out — trademark policy?
Yes. Yes, it is.
Does The Lunduke Journal care?
No. No, The Lunduke Journal does not.
Hey, Rust Foundation. Want to come after me for violating your Trademark Policy? Do it. I double dog dare you.
One final bit of ridiculousness…
“In general, we prohibit the modification of the Rust logo for any purpose, except to scale it. This includes distortion, transparency, color-changes affiliated with for-profit brands or political ideologies.
On the other hand, if you would like to change the colors of the Rust logo to communicate allegiance with a community movement, we simply ask that you run the proposed logo change by us by emailing the file to contact@rustfoundation.org with a description of the changes you’re proposing. In the future, we intend to publish new versions of the Rust logo to accord with community movements (ex: LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, Black Lives Matter, etc.). “
Short version:
You can’t tweak or utilize the Rust logo. Period.
But if you want to make a version for your particular political leanings… The Rust Foundation will consider it. And, if the foundation agrees with you, they may allow it.
Likewise, The Rust Foundation will be creating versions of the Rust logo for political causes they agree with.
All of which has the effect of turning The Rust Foundation into an explicitly political organization — with well delineated rules about who is “good” and who is “bad”.
Now… I have no problem with people having political leanings. None at all. But this is a programming language. Which makes all of this quite strange.
I don’t remember the last time C++ told me I needed to vote a certain way.
But, I suppose, none of that actually matters.
Because we are forbidden from having Rust websites, Rust libraries, Rust extensions, Rust books, Rust articles, Rust podcasts, Rust stickers, Rust conferences…
The first rule of Rust… is you don’t talk about Rust.
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The Rust Foundation goes to war against people using the word "Rust"
This is insane, unenforceable, and stupid! When deciding what language I might want to hack on for a weekend, a big deciding factor is the openness of that language. Rust, from the Rust Foundation, deciding what I can do with Rust, makes the taste so sour and unpalatable that I'll never touch it. Granted, that is exactly what the Rust Foundation wants! They want to turn the community against itself, so they can band together with other stupid community policies, in a pseudo stupid community policy megazord.
Did I mention the Rust Foundation, fully agrees with my views? Rust, Rust, Rust, Rust, Rust. He's a Rust logo {R}.
This is actually more stupid than the “no virtual hugs” policy, which I'm sure is coming next to Rust {R}, from the Rust Foundation, (They agree with that view also)
Oh, and tomorrow I'll be making rust.andrewmurdoch.ca with a hello world Rust program on it, so watch out :)
Right as I was becoming willing to learn this superfluous and purposeless language, this. I guess now I am just explicitly anti-rust... this kind of litigation stance is just a big... NOPE.