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I'm trying to understand more about open source projects and trademarks.

From what I know, Android is an open source project, although started by Google, is not owned by anybody. If that's the case, I'm confused how could Google own the rights to the Android trademark?

http://www.android.com/branding.html:

Any usage of #04 or #05 needs to include footer attribution in your communication: "Android is a trademark of Google Inc."

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maybe they played with it ............................................... – user14105 Oct 28 '11 at 11:53

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Open source refers to a copyright license on the source code of the Android operating system. A trademark protects the word "Android". So Google allows you to copy the source code and build any device you want with the Android OS, but won't let you call it Android unless you acknowledge that they own the trademark.

They do that in part because they'll lose the rights to the name if they don't force people to protect it, whereas copyrighted code cannot be lost this way.

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I don't quite get your last sentence. if they have already trademarked the word "Android", how will they ever lose the rights to the name? – Pacerier Oct 27 '11 at 10:34
That's because if you don't defend your trademark, you will lose it. It's just a different set of laws. Trademarks can be lost depending your actions, whereas copyright is yours no matter what. – Alain Raynaud Oct 27 '11 at 19:27

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