Clarifications about the FHIR Trademark

Nov 21, 2018

HL7 owns the “FHIR” ®  trademark (along with the FHIR flame icon). While the specification itself is licensed under Creative Commons Public Domain, and can be used in anyway possible, the Trademark is not public domain; HL7 defends the trademark carefully.

What that means is that anyone can use the term “FHIR” to refer the FHIR specification – that’s called nominative use – it’s naming the thing that FHIR identifies. Note that HL7 asks that people use (R) along with the FHIR mark, at least once). But if an organisation uses the word “FHIR” to refer to something of their own, this is not nominative use, and they require written permission from HL7 to use the trademark in this fashion.

Here’s some uses of the trademark that are ok:

  • HL7 is publishing R4 of FHIR later this year
  • Acme CIS conforms to the FHIR specification
  • Learn HL7 FHIR at Acme, Inc’s DevFORGE seminar
  • Please seehttp://fhir.org/for further details

All these refer to the FHIR specification that HL7 publishes. On the other hand, these uses, where FHIR refers to something the organisation is doing, require written permission:

  • Please go tohttp://fhir.acme.com
  • Acme, Inc is proud to announce FHIRMachinePlus, our new interface engine
  • Acme, Inv invites you to Acme-On-FHIR, our new seminar about…

HL7 grants written permission to organisations to use the FHIR trademark if the organisation making the application is using the mark in a way that is clearly an application of the standard, and that explains how they intend to ensure conformance/consistency with the specification. We do this to allow the community to grow and identify itself, and create findable artefacts using search engines. We’ve issued close to 100 trademark use permissions. (Btw, you can apply for written permission at http://www.fhir.org/, and since that doesn’t cost anything, you can apply even if you’re not sure that you need trademark approval).

It’s become clear, as we administer the trademark application process, that some clarifications are needed. Firstly, two clarifications about the existing system:

  • We do not, and will not, issue approvals to use the FHIR trademark in a company name
  • We do not, and will not, approve the use of the FHIR trademark in another registered trade mark. E.g. we might approve the use of FHIRMachinePlus, but FHIRMachinePlus could never be a registered trademark in it’s own right

Revision

Further, the current system is under revision. We are considering changing our current system to add further conditions around the use of the trademark. Specifically, we are considering only issuing trademark approvals to HL7 member organisations, and only for limited periods (that due to ongoing legal advice). Having said that, we recognise that:

  • There might be a mismatch between the registered member and the organisational unit using the trademark, or it might be being used by a consortium
  • Open source projects can’t be members, but we do want to approve them
  • Once organisations start using the trademark they can’t stop using them, so HL7 needs to be a faithful partner in this regard

None of these changes are yet made; we’ll be consulting our members for their opinion; HL7 owns the FHIR trademark for the benefit of its members, and it’s their value that we are figuring out how to maximise . This is just a heads up that the member consultation is coming.

Note : FHIR® is the registered trademark of HL7 and is used with the permission of HL7.