Notes on #FHIR trademark usage

Sep 20, 2016

The FHIR trademark system is operational. There are 2 kinds of license to apply for: * Community License, for uses associated with events that have a date (or date range)

You can use the name “FHIR” without applying for a trademark license in 2 circumstances.

Fair Use

You don’t need trademark permission to make use of the name “FHIR” to refer to the specification HL7 publishes, or the community that builds it. You can use “FHIR” as you like as long as you are referring to one of those things. That’s covered clearly under the “fair use” provisions of trademark law in most jurisdictions. HL7 asks that you mention that FHIR is a registered trademark, and provide attribution to HL7, but you don’t need to do those things under fair use law.

In practice, you can mostly differentiate between fair use and other kinds of use by inserting “HL7’s” into the sentence. For example, if you hold an event called “Learn about FHIR”, modifying the sentence doesn’t really change the meaning: “learn about HL7’s FHIR”. So that’s fair use. On the other hand, if adding “HL7’s” changes the meaning, it’s probably not fair use. For example, I maintain a server called the “FHIRServer” (and I don’t do that on behalf of HL7 as FHIR product director). Changing that to “HL7’s FHIRServer” is not correct - the FHIR Server is not ‘HL7’s server’. So that’s not fair use, and I need trademark permission (which I applied for).

We’re always happy to help members of the community determine what’s fair use - you can always ask me or Wayne Kubick (HL7 CTO) for assistance. (and we’ll be publishing an FAQ in the future on this)

Btw, using #FHIR on twitter is also definitely fair use.

HL7 Use

If you’re organising an event, or providing a resource, and the activity is organised by HL7 or an affiliate, and the activity is linked to a registered project in the HL7 database, or in an affiliate formal list, then you don’t need trademark permission - HL7 own the trademark for it’s own use.

Why?

HL7 has no choice but to enforce trademark protection, but we’re doing our best to make the trademark protection un-intrusive as possible. You don’t need any permission to talk about FHIR - even to be critical. But you need permission to use FHIR to describe something of your own. We’ll grant permission if you have a credible plan for alignment with the specification/community, and if you’re describing what you’re doing clearly, so that there’s no confusion about where the ultimate source of authority over the FHIR lies.