Technically, I'm comfortable switching to a redis fork / clone.
I'm profoundly uncomfortable with what happened here socially or legally. I wanted thoughts here.
- Is my discomfort warranted?
- If so, how can we prevent something similar from happening in the future?
- Is there a way to claw this one back? The trademark examiner in 2018 ought to have been aware they were granting a trademark on something previously used generically.
- Can we do something right now?
If Redis Labs wants to take Redis and make a version called "Redis: Pro Labs Edition," that's their right under the license. But they're claiming their version is the successor to an open project we all supported. It's not. It's proprietary and sleazy. Redis Labs shouldn't be able to steal the term 'redis' from the community either.
There ought to be some way for people to know that placeholderkv, redict, and friends are also redises, and first class citizens, just like the one from Redis Labs.
I don't have well-formed thoughts beyond a feeling that something very bad is happening and we ought to stop it. Historical examples:
- The GPL-style licenses came out in response to proprietary BSDs outcompeting the free and open ones.
- The social justice movement names-and-shames people who do bad things. This has a lot of upsides, and in my opinion, as it's done, a lot more downsides. The sleazeballs are well-advertised: https://redis.com/company/team/ Click through the profile. Almost every one of them has the CV of a douchebag.
- The Linux kernel trademark had complex legal processes. Perhaps something similar might work here?
- The original author of redis seems like a good person, and probably got just as f-ed as everyone else.
I'm profoundly uncomfortable with what happened here socially or legally. I wanted thoughts here.
- Is my discomfort warranted?
- If so, how can we prevent something similar from happening in the future?
- Is there a way to claw this one back? The trademark examiner in 2018 ought to have been aware they were granting a trademark on something previously used generically.
- Can we do something right now?
If Redis Labs wants to take Redis and make a version called "Redis: Pro Labs Edition," that's their right under the license. But they're claiming their version is the successor to an open project we all supported. It's not. It's proprietary and sleazy. Redis Labs shouldn't be able to steal the term 'redis' from the community either.
There ought to be some way for people to know that placeholderkv, redict, and friends are also redises, and first class citizens, just like the one from Redis Labs.
I don't have well-formed thoughts beyond a feeling that something very bad is happening and we ought to stop it. Historical examples:
- The GPL-style licenses came out in response to proprietary BSDs outcompeting the free and open ones.
- The social justice movement names-and-shames people who do bad things. This has a lot of upsides, and in my opinion, as it's done, a lot more downsides. The sleazeballs are well-advertised: https://redis.com/company/team/ Click through the profile. Almost every one of them has the CV of a douchebag.
- The Linux kernel trademark had complex legal processes. Perhaps something similar might work here?
- The original author of redis seems like a good person, and probably got just as f-ed as everyone else.