Trademark policy

CASRAI’s substantive outputs — the Dictionary, CRediT vocabulary, editorial guidance, JATS templates, JSON-LD distributions — are licensed CC-BY 4.0 and free to reuse, redistribute, translate, and embed without permission. The name “CASRAI”, the CASRAI logo, and the trade-dress identifying CASRAI as a publishing source are not CC-BY assets — they are trademarks of CASRAI and are governed by this policy. The two licences answer different questions: CC-BY 4.0 lets you reuse the vocabulary; the trademark policy governs whether you can identify yourself as CASRAI or imply that CASRAI endorses you.

The reason for the split is the same as for any open-source community brand: the freedoms granted by CC-BY are valuable only if downstream readers can still rely on what the CASRAI brand specifically identifies — the editorially-stewarded outputs, signed off by the board at each release. Without a name and logo of stable meaning, the open licence would be undermined by the first impostor.

The following uses are prohibited without explicit written permission from [email protected]. For clearly-truthful integration cases (the bullet above) we generally grant permission within 5 working days at no cost; the bullet exists to give us a chance to correct misleading framing before it goes live.

• Product, service, or company names. Naming a product, service, company, or domain in a way that incorporates “CASRAI” or suggests origin from, sponsorship by, or affiliation with CASRAI. Patterns like “CASRAI-Pro”, “MyApp for CASRAI”, or casrai-cloud.com all fall here. We refuse where the name would create market confusion.
• Endorsement or certification claims. Stating or implying that CASRAI certifies, endorses, recommends, validates, or approves a product, service, publication, course, or organisation. We do not certify implementations; do not represent us as having done so. The CASRAI editorial board may, separately, publish evaluations of third-party implementations — those evaluations are clearly bylined as such and don’t constitute permission to use the brand in derivative marketing.
• Logo alterations. Recolouring, distorting, animating, or composing the CASRAI logo with another mark such that the result could be read as a new brand. Submit alteration proposals to [email protected] for review.
• Commercial merchandise. Selling mugs, T-shirts, stickers, or other physical merchandise bearing the CASRAI name or logo for profit. Community / nonprofit merchandise (conference giveaways, working-group swag) is generally permitted with notice.
• Domain registration. Registering a domain name incorporating “CASRAI” (whether or not commercial). Defensive / good-faith registrations directed back to casrai.org are an exception — contact us before registering.

Send a written request to [email protected] with:

1. What you want to do (the proposed placement, naming, or use);
2. Where the brand will appear (a URL, screenshot, PDF, or printed mockup);
3. The context (commercial, community, academic, journalistic, regulatory);
4. Whether you’ve already shipped the use, or are sending in advance.

We acknowledge within 5 working days and aim to decide within 14. For clearly-factual integration use we typically grant permission by return email at no cost. For permission grants you wish to publish or reference in due-diligence reviews, we can issue a short signed letter on request.