Welcome to the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada, a non-profit organisation setup to steward assets such as domain names and trademarks for the PostgreSQL Project.
In 2020, the PostgreSQL Core Team was made aware of trademarks registered in Spain and the European Union for POSTGRESQL and POSTGRESQL COMMUNITY by Fundación PostgreSQL, a 3rd-party nonprofit organization. Subsequently, Fundación PostgreSQL also filed trademark registrations for POSTGRES. This situation is described in two separate announcements by the PostgreSQL community: "Trademark Actions Against the PostgreSQL Community" and "Update on the Trademark Actions Against the PostgreSQL Community".
Fundación PostgreSQL offered publicly and privately to transfer the trademark registrations to PGCAC at no cost. However, when prompted to initiate the transfer, Fundación PostgreSQL refused. This forced both PGCAC and PostgreSQL Europe (PGEU), a recognized PostgreSQL nonprofit organization that operates in Europe, to go forward with court proceedings in Spain to invalidate the trademark registrations.
On the 31st of May, the Spanish court ruled in favor of PGCAC and PGEU and invalidated the POSTGRESQL and POSTGRESQL COMMUNITY trademarks that were registered by Fundación PostgreSQL.
Legal action on the registration for POSTGRES is ongoing.
Fundación PostgreSQL attempted to register the same three trademarks in the United States. These applications were rejected by the examiner and are now abandoned.
The PGCAC board is grateful for the support that the PostgreSQL community has provided for the defense of our trademarks. As we have stated previously, we do hope for an amicable resolution in this matter, but will pursue all options until Fundación PostgreSQL surrenders all claims to trademarks that are in violation of the PostgreSQL trademark policy.
If you would like to continue to help support the mission of PGCAC of holding community assets such as tradearks and domain names, we kindly ask that you please consider donating.
Following an AGM and board meeting held during a video conference, the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada's board has been re-confirmed as:
Following the passing of our friend and colleague Chris Browne, the Board have voted to update the positions of various board members. The updated list is as follows:
If you would like to help support the mission of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada (PGCAC) donations can be made via PayPal, either with a PayPal account or directly using a credit or debit card:
Alternatively, if you wish to make a donation through a bank transfer or by other means, please contact the PGCAC board at board@lists.postgres.ca.