Hi Sindre —
Joe from GitHub here. Thank you for using GitHub and being a valued member of our community. We are pleased to see you making use of the tools and resources available on GitHub. In particular, the placement of one of your extensions on the Browser Extension Showcase page shows how well-received your project has been by the GitHub community.
We have recently noticed, however, that you are using GitHub's name and logo in ways that might be confusing to people using the following browser extensions:
- "GitHub Notifier" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/github-notifier/lmjdlojahmbbcodnpecnjnmlddbkjhnn?hl=en-US) - extensions for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
- "GitHub Tab Size" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/github-tab-size/ofjbgncegkdemndciafljngjbdpfmbkn?hl=en-US) - extension for Chrome
- "GitHub Hide Files" (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/github-hide-files/lpnakhpaodhdkleejaehlapdhbgjbddp?hl=en-US) - extension for Chrome
As I'm sure you can appreciate, GitHub relies on its trademarks (such as its name and logos) to signal to the public that products or services are "officially" made or authorized by GitHub. At the same time, we value the contributions made by our awesome community of users, and we recognize that users may want to use GitHub's name and logos to talk about GitHub, link back to GitHub, or promote tools that are built with or integrated with GitHub — all of which we enthusiastically support. In order to encourage these uses among the GitHub community, we make our logos available for download and provide guidelines on the proper ways to use them to strike the appropriate balance between these competing concerns. (See https://github.com/logos)
This is a friendly request to ask you to make some simple changes to your applications and listings to stop any potential confusion. In the above cases, you use the "GitHub" name and logo in potentially confusing ways because the "GitHub" name and logo are presented as the name and icon for your applications, as shown in the attached screenshots. In particular, the project names - "GitHub Notifier," "GitHub Tab Size," and "GitHub Hide Files" - make the applications sound as though they are sponsored by, endorsed by, or official projects of GitHub. In general, you should not start your project name with "GitHub" or use "GitHub" as an adjective. Instead, you may refer to GitHub in a relational phrase to say that the projects are "compatible with" or "for use with" GitHub, such as "Notifier for GitHub", "Hide Files in GitHub", or something along those lines.
We also ask that you please change the icons used for your applications in order to avoid any further confusion. It is not necessary to entirely remove the remove the logos from any in-app buttons you have created, just changing the icon in the web store listings would be greatly appreciated. Once you have made the changes, kindly respond to let us know.
I realize that we are asking for a lot here, and that it could take some time. The law, however, requires us to ask for these changes in order to maintain our trademarks. We would be happy to answer any questions or review any proposed changes, so please let us know if you have any questions. We are flexible and happy to work with you. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Cheers,
Joe