Trademark & forking policy
Status: Accepted
The code is open; the identity is not. This page says what that means for someone who forks — because a proprietary mark without a stated forking policy just leaves people guessing.
What’s protected
Section titled “What’s protected”The name lemonfiber, the logo and wordmark, and the marks under
brand/assets/logo/ are proprietary (licence rationale).
The code (Hippocratic 3.0) and the design tokens (open) are not.
This is the ordinary shape of an open project with a protected identity — Rust, Mozilla, Python and Docker all do it. The software is free to use, fork and redistribute; the name and logo are not, so a fork can’t impersonate the project.
If you fork
Section titled “If you fork”You may fork any repo and build on the code. If you distribute your fork:
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
| Rename it — your own name, your own logo | Ship it as “lemonfiber” or with the lemonfiber mark |
| Use the open tokens if you like | Use the proprietary logo assets |
| Say “based on lemonfiber” factually | Imply endorsement or that it is lemonfiber |
| Keep the licence and attribution | Remove the licences or DCO history |
The one-line version: fork the code freely; don’t wear the name.
Nominative use is fine
Section titled “Nominative use is fine”You can refer to lemonfiber by name — “a plugin for lemonfiber”, “compatible with lemonfiber”, “based on lemonfiber” — that’s honest, factual reference and needs no permission. What needs permission is using the name or mark as your own project’s identity, or in a way that suggests official status.
Why this matters for the token split
Section titled “Why this matters for the token split”It’s why brand is licensed in two parts: the tokens are
open so a fork (or the web UI) can use the visual system, while the marks stay
proprietary so the identity can’t be lifted. A forker gets the design language
and must bring their own name.
Requirements
Section titled “Requirements”| ID | Requirement |
|---|---|
| DES-R22 | The forking policy MUST be stated: the code and tokens are open; the name and marks are not and MUST NOT be used by a fork as its own identity. |
| DES-R23 | Nominative reference to lemonfiber MUST be permitted without requiring permission. |
Related
Section titled “Related”- 90-appendix/license-rationale.md — the licence split
- 30-repos/brand.md — the two-part licence in the repo
- brand-rules.md — the mark-integrity rules
This page lives in another repository Rendered from lemonfiber/spec at 1d10402, 2026-09-09. Read the source of this page