This blog post is based on the text of Eclipse EE4J’s very first GitHub Issue. Please join the conversation over there!
We need a new brand name for the set of specifications that will be created by the new community process. This brand name will also become a certification mark in the industry for compatible, independent implementations. The open source projects that fall under the Eclipse EE4J top level project will be one such implementation. In short, we need a new name to replace “Java EE”. Much like the OpenJDK project implements the Java SE Platform specification, the EE4J projects will provide implementations of a set of specifications that we today call Java EE: we need a brand name for this set of specifications.
With this in mind, we are initiating a community process to select the brand name. This process will be managed by the EE4J Project Management Committee (“PMC”) with assistance from the Eclipse Management Organization (“EMO”). The name that is selected by this process must pass legal and other trademark searches to ensure that the names are available for use. As a result, it is possible that the favoured selection will not be the ultimate choice. The final decision will be made by the EMO Executive Director (“EMO(ED)”) in consultation with the PMC.
The process is described in greater detail below.
Nominations
Names can be nominated by anyone in the community via this GitHub Issue record.
Nominations will be open from November 15 until November 30, 2018.
Naming Guidelines
All suggested names must conform to the following:
- They must conform to Oracle’s trademark usage guidelines. Amongst other things this means that the name cannot start with the word “Java”.
- They must conform to the Eclipse Foundation trademark guidelines.
- They must not be obscene, sexist, racist, controversial, etc., and they must not be frivolous (e.g. we’re not going to choose Boaty McBoatface or the like.)
Any suggested names which fail to meet the above criteria will be rejected.
Name Selection Process
The process will be executed as follows:
- Members of the community will be invited to enter their nominations into the specified channel;
- At the end of the nomination period, the names suggested by the community will be reviewed by the PMC to identify those which meet the criteria specified in the by the naming guidelines (depending on response, the PMC may decide to further reduce the list to a manageable size);
- The PMC will then initiate a community vote using the CIVS system (which will produce an overall ranking of the choices); and
- The results of the vote will be delivered to the EMO(ED) who will engage in the required legal and other trademark searches to ensure that the names are available for use, and consult with the PMC to make the final decision.
Since we have no idea what sort of community response to expect, it is difficult to time box anything other than the initial nomination process. But this will be an open and transparent process, and we invite the community to engage in all aspects of it. There is a great deal of legal, marketing, and community thought that goes into selecting an industry brand, so it’s important that we get this right. This may take a little time.
