Fair Use by Non-Licensees

Except as provided below, the MultiSpeak trademarks may not be used by any company other than a company that has signed a trademark license agreement with NRECA, and then, only in accordance with the provisions of the license agreement. Unauthorized use may constitute trademark infringement and/or violate unfair competition laws. NRECA will take whatever actions it deems necessary to protect the MultiSpeak trademarks and protect its licensees from infringement and other inappropriate uses.

Generally, it is appropriate to use the MultiSpeak name when it is necessary to identify MultiSpeak in your materials, on web sites, etc.

General Rules for Fair Use

Always:

  • Ensure that your use of the MultiSpeak name is favorable, and does not disparage the MultiSpeak Initiative or individual participating vendors or their products.
  • Include the following trademark attribution notice to properly credit NRECA with ownership of the MultiSpeak trademarks: “The MultiSpeak name and logos are registered trademarks of the Cooperative Energy Services, a subsidiary of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.”

Never:

  • Use MultiSpeak as part of or in connection with your company name, product name, domain name or email addresses. To do so may confuse or mislead the public regarding your connection to the MultiSpeak Initiative or specification.
    • Don’t: “ABC MultiSpeak Software Company”
    • Don’t: “www.xyzgismultispeak.com”
  • Create or use any mark that is confusingly similar to the MultiSpeak name or logos.
    multispeak-donotcreate-similarlogo
  • Attempt to register or otherwise apply for any trademark or domain name that incorporates the name MultiSpeak or the MultiSpeak design.

“Fair use” of the MultiSpeak name, but not the logos, may be made for the following types of uses:

  • in comparative advertising
  • on products
  • in publications or presentations
  • on a web site

Fair Descriptive Use in Comparative and Compatibility Advertising

You may refer to the MultiSpeak specification to make legitimate comparative statements about your company’s products and MultiSpeak compliant or interoperable products.

  • “What MultiSpeak does for back-office software applications for utilities, the ABC Software Solution does for customer-service applications: it creates a common interface so that data from your contact management software can be shared with your help desk/customer support software.”

You may not refer to your company’s products as:

  • “Just as good as MultiSpeak Interoperable products.”
  • “Designed to work with MultiSpeak.”
  • “Developed with MultiSpeak in mind.”
  • Or use similar phrases which may cause confusion about whether or not your company’s products have been tested and passed MultiSpeak compliance or interoperable testing.

 

Fair Descriptive Use on Products

Fair Descriptive Use on Products

  • The MultiSpeak name may not be used in any manner that is misleading or likely to cause confusion regarding the status of your product’s certification to the MultiSpeak specification.
    • Don’t: “ABC Interface is designed to be MultiSpeak interoperable.”
    • Do: “ABC Interface is currently being tested for interoperability to the MultiSpeak3 specification.”
  • Fair descriptive use in publications or presentations.
    • Use of MultiSpeak name only is permitted, following these guidelines.
    • A disclaimer, such as the following, should be clearly and prominently displayed:
      • “The MultiSpeak name is a registered trademark of Cooperative Energy Services, a subsidiary of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Mention of MultiSpeak in this (publication/presentation) is not meant in any way to convey affiliation, endorsement or sponsorship by CES, NRECA or any participant in the MultiSpeak Initiative nor compliance or interoperability of our (product/products) with the MultiSpeak Specification.”
  • Fair descriptive use in web sites.
    • You may not use the MultiSpeak name in web sites and domain names in any manner that is misleading or likely cause confusion as to whether the web site is sponsored or endorsed by or affiliated with the MultiSpeak Initiative.
    • You may not register, or attempt to register, an Internet domain name containing the MultiSpeak name.
    • If you reference MultiSpeak on a web page, you must include the following acknowledgement (via a prominently displayed hotlink is acceptable):
      • “The MultiSpeak name and logos are registered trademarks of the Cooperative Energy Services, a subsidiary of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Mention of MultiSpeak on this site is not meant in any way to convey affiliation, endorsement or sponsorship by CES, NRECA or any participant in the MultiSpeak Initiative.”

How can I get a Trademark License?

Executing a trademark license agreement with NRECA will give you permission to do certain things that you would otherwise not be able to do. Your company will be able to use MultiSpeak trademarks that match your situation. For example, if your company is a participant in the MultiSpeak Initiative, then you may use the MultiSpeak Participating Vendor Logo, or if your company is a member of the Initiative and you provide software products that have tested compliant with the MultiSpeak Version 2.2 specification or interoperable with the MultiSpeak 3 (or higher) specification, then you may use the MultiSpeak Software Developer Logo.

To contact us for further information, please email Tony Thomas at tony.thomas@nreca.coop.

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