Trademark Policy for Domain Names

Article 1. Introduction. Open Source Matters (OSM) owns and oversees the trademarks for the Joomla name, trademarks, brand and logo.

Article 2. Purpose of this Policy. This policy has the following goals:

1. Make it easy for anyone to understand how and when the use of Joomla name is allowed in domain names for community-oriented efforts that help spread and improve Joomla.
2. Make it clear how Joomla-related businesses and projects can (and cannot) use the Joomla name in their domain names.
3. Make it hard for anyone to use the Joomla name in domain names to unfairly profit from, trick or confuse people who are looking for official Joomla resources.

Article 3. Usage Policy. Permission from Open Source Matters is required to use the Joomla name as part of any domain name. Open Source Matters may, under certain circumstances, grant a license for use of domain names that includes one of it’s owned trademarks.

Article 4. Procedure.

1. An interested party may request a license to use a domain name using one of the Joomla trademarks by submitting a ticket at tm.joomla.org stating their intended usage of the domain and providing the whois records to prove the date of registration.
2. The Joomla! Trademark Team will review the application and the active website (if any) and will propose any corrective action they deem necessary to ensure a proper use of the Joomla trademarks on the proposed domain.
3. When online, the website should publish the proper disclaimer as described at:  https://tm.joomla.org/disclaimers.html

Article 5. New gTLDs. With regards to new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), (e.g. joomla.xyz, joomla.tld, joomla.store, joomla.news, etc.), any newly registered domain shall have Open Source Matters, Inc. as the Registrant.

This allows OSM to recover the domain name in case of violation of the organisation’s Trademark policy and regulations. As Registrant, OSM will receive an EPP Code and/or an Auth Code and will be notified in the case of ownership/contact changes.

The interested party shall be listed as Administrative and Technical Contact (Admin-C and Tech-C) of the requested domain name.

This will allow the interested party to effectively manage the domain name (including paying the registrar, the hosting company, etc.) and use make use of the domain name as agreed by OSM.

Article 6. ccTLDs. With regards to Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs), (e.g. joomla.de, joomla.fr, joomla.es, etc.) usage is allowed to Local Communities, Translation Teams and groups. In any case, the interested party shall request permission pursuant Article 3 of this policy and ensure ongoing compliance with the brand, logo and name trademark policies.

Article 7. JoomlaDays and Events. Community Events organizers such as “JoomlaDays, JoomlaCamps, etc.” could receive a limited license to register and maintain ccTLDs in the form “joomladay.cc” where “cc” is the country code in which they are holding the event (e.g. joomladay.fr, joomladay.de, joomladay.it, etc.) or a custom domain name (e.g. joomladayflorida.com, joomladaychicago.com, etc.) where the region or the city is added to the name of the Community Events. Registration and usage of such domain names shall be done pursuant Article 3 of this Policy and following the trademark policies about the usage of the Joomla name, brand and logo.

Article 8. Joomla Users Groups. Local Joomla User Groups (JUGs) are invited to use an instance of the free Joomla hosted service at launch.joomla.org with a third-level domain name in the form city.joomla.com (or region.joomla.com). In the eventual case a JUG already owns a domain name that includes one of the Open Source Matters trademarks, the JUG organizer shall ensure they hold a license (obtained pursuant Article 3 of this Policy) and that their usage of Joomla name, brand and logo is in compliance with the respective policies published at tm.joomla.org.

Article 9. Transfer of ownership. In the eventual case the approved domain registrant (or assignee) has the intention to cease their usage of a domain name that includes OSM trademarks, they shall transfer the ownership of the domain back to Open Source Matters that will decide whether to renew or not such domain.

Article 10. Registrant information. Domain names registered or transferred pursuant Articles 5 and 9 of this policy shall use the following information as Registrant:

Open Source Matters, Inc.
PO Box 4668 #888354
New York, NY 10163-4668
United States
Email of the Registrant: ​

Article 11. Applicability. This policy is applicable to all newly requested and registered domain names that include one of the Open Source Matters trademarks. A list of all Open Source Matters trademarks is available at https://docs.joomla.org/Joomla:Trademarks.
All current and old licenses are still valid and don’t need to receive a new approval.

Article 12. Disclaimer and Audit rights. Open Source Matters grants the 'domain user' permission to use a TLD as long as the 'domain user" agrees to abide by all Trademark and other policies as documented on the tm.joomla.org website. Open Source Matters reserves the right to audit the licensed domain names and websites performing regular and random checks.

Article 13. Violations. As result of regular or random audits, Open Source Matters reserves the right to suggest corrective actions to reinstate compliance with trademark policies. In the event that Open Source Matters has not been able to connect with the 'domain user' after trying at least two different means and has waited no less than 30 days, or in the event that the 'domain manager' fails to attain compliance, Open Source Matters may exercise the right to take over the domain and shut down the site.

Article 14. Appeals. If the 'domain user' feels that the site has been taken from them wrongly, a formal letter of protest may be made to for review and the 'domain user' will have the opportunity to voice their case. Open Source Matters reserves the right to keep the site offline until the dispute is resolved. All decisions by the Trademark Team will be final.

Article 15. Replacement of old policy. This policy replaces the previous “Trademark Policy for new Top Level Domains (TLD)” version 1.0 adopted by the Board of Directors of Open Source Matters, Inc. with the motion #2017-069 on September 28, 2017.

Article 16. Examples.

Article 17. Order of Precedence. In case of conflict between provisions of this Policy, the order of precedence for conflict resolution in descending order shall be as follows: (i) Bylaws, including amendments; (ii) and (iii) Policies.

This policy has been adopted by the Board of Directors of Open Source Matters, Inc. with the motion #2019-024 on March 07, 2019 and is published under the Policies section of the organization’s website and on the Joomla Trademark website tm.joomla.org.

Official Policy version

The official version of the policy adopted by the Board of Directors on September 28, 2017. (obsolete)

Download the Official Trademark Process for Top Level Domains as PDF (version 1.0)68.17 KB

The official version of the policy adopted by the Board of Directors on March 07, 2019. (current)

Download the Official Trademark Policy for Domain Names as PDF (Version 2.0)69.19 KB