Inconsistency in Legal Info

Queer_Royalty

You Must Fix This Blatant Inconsistency!

In the Terms of Use it states

5.4 The Scratch name, Scratch logo, Scratch Day logo, Scratch Cat, and Gobo are Trademarks owned by the Scratch Team. The MIT name and logo are Trademarks owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Unless you are licensed by Scratch under a specific licensing program or agreement, you may not use these logos to label, promote, or endorse any product or service. You may use the Scratch Logo to refer to the Scratch website and programming language.

However, the FAQ says

May I use / remix Scratch support materials, sprites, images, sounds or sample projects I’ve found on the website?
Yes: Most Scratch support materials on the Scratch website are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. There are a few exceptions: the Scratch Logo, Scratch Cat, Gobo, Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera are Scratch trademarks, and can not be used without explicit permission from the Scratch Team.

As you can see, the FAQ includes more assets than the Terms of Use. This may confuse some users, and, if the FAQ is correct, cause some to use Pico, nano, Giga, and Tera without permission.

edit: I have sent a Contact Us message about this matter. I am waiting to hear back from them. Here is the transcript:

Dear Scratch Team,

I have found a legal inconsistency on the Scratch Website related to permissions for use of the main Scratch assets. It appears that the Scratch FAQ includes a slightly different list of assets which may not be used without permission than the Terms of Use does.

The FAQ's list includes Scratch Logo, Scratch Cat, Gobo, Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera. In contrast, the Terms of Use only includes the Scratch name, Scratch logo, Scratch Day logo, Scratch Cat, and Gobo. As you can see, the Terms of Use leaves out Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera.

This means that, if the FAQ is right, entities could use Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera without permission. It may also cause confusion in the Scratch community.

Note that I am merely a stupid 11-year-old, and you probably should not take my legal advice. I am merely asking you to clarify this so it is less confusing for young users – Scratch's target audience – to understand. If it helps, I have already made a suggestion about this in the forums: https://scratch-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/discuss/topic/550998/

Sincerely, Queer_Royalty

I included two images, one of the list in the FAQ, and one of the list in the ToU.

Last edited by Queer_Royalty (Oct. 25, 2021 18:59:23)

JJ09012011

Agree, Terms of Use should be updated to prevent confusion.

Edit: I'm the first to comment on the topic!

Last edited by JJ09012011 (Oct. 30, 2021 23:58:32)

Queer_Royalty

bump

-EmeraldThunder-

Support, we don't want someone to get sued due to this.

ScratchCat1038

Support. It always confused me, and, as you said, people could use Nano, Giga, Tera, and Pico without permission (if the FAQ is correct)

Queer_Royalty

bump

7salad3salad

Support, this should definitely be changed to avoid some accidental problems

Carrotoplia

bump

Queer_Royalty

(b)
(u)
(m)
(p)

promixels123

In the Terms of Use, it states, “Unless you are licensed by Scratch under a specific licensing program or agreement, you may not use these logos to label, promote, or endorse any product or service.” So using the logos stated for a product or service that isn't Scratch is prohibited, but it's fine otherwise

I could see how others could get confused, however. Support.

Queer_Royalty

Someone Older Than Me wrote:
Whilst I usually don't feel the need to post on topics which have been posted on in the past twenty four hours for the sole purpose of bringing them to the first page of the Suggestions subforum, I feel this is a matter of the utmost concern and requires immediate attention from responsible adults.

Queer_Royalty

My browser / operating system: BumpOS 14150.57.0, Bump 94.0.4606.97, No Bump version detected

Queer_Royalty

bump

DangerousDawn

Support because that is just nonsense.

JackK211424

Why is this confusing?

Terms of use says:
5.1 The Scratch name, Scratch logo, Scratch Day logo, Scratch Cat, and Gobo are Trademarks owned by the Scratch Team. The MIT name and logo are Trademarks owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Unless you are licensed by Scratch under a specific licensing program or agreement, you may not use these logos to label, promote, or endorse any product or service.

FAQ says:
May I use / remix Scratch support materials, sprites, images, sounds or sample projects I’ve found on the website?
Yes: Most Scratch support materials on the Scratch website are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. There are a few exceptions: the Scratch Logo, Scratch Cat, Gobo, Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera are Scratch trademarks, and can not be used without explicit permission from the Scratch Team.

banana439monkey

this should defo be brought to the legal team's attention

also, is there an email address like legal@scratch.mit.edu? this needs to exist, really. if it does, it needs to be listed clearly and accessibly. help@scratch.mit.edu is not fit for purpose for these kinds of things, especially when they're extremely important

Banana

reallysoftuser

JackK211424 wrote:
Why is this confusing?
Terms of use says:
5.1 The Scratch name, Scratch logo, Scratch Day logo, Scratch Cat, and Gobo are Trademarks owned by the Scratch Team. The MIT name and logo are Trademarks owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Unless you are licensed by Scratch under a specific licensing program or agreement, you may not use these logos to label, promote, or endorse any product or service.
FAQ says:
May I use / remix Scratch support materials, sprites, images, sounds or sample projects I’ve found on the website?
Yes: Most Scratch support materials on the Scratch website are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. There are a few exceptions: the Scratch Logo, Scratch Cat, Gobo, Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera are Scratch trademarks, and can not be used without explicit permission from the Scratch Team.

The Terms of Use doesn't include Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera

banana439monkey

reallysoftuser wrote:
JackK211424 wrote:
Why is this confusing?
Terms of use says:
5.1 The Scratch name, Scratch logo, Scratch Day logo, Scratch Cat, and Gobo are Trademarks owned by the Scratch Team. The MIT name and logo are Trademarks owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Unless you are licensed by Scratch under a specific licensing program or agreement, you may not use these logos to label, promote, or endorse any product or service.
FAQ says:
May I use / remix Scratch support materials, sprites, images, sounds or sample projects I’ve found on the website?
Yes: Most Scratch support materials on the Scratch website are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. There are a few exceptions: the Scratch Logo, Scratch Cat, Gobo, Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera are Scratch trademarks, and can not be used without explicit permission from the Scratch Team.
The Terms of Use doesn't include Pico, Nano, Giga, and Tera

then scratch has no legal grounds for suing people who will corporately use those assets
FAQ is not a contract, and therefore should not be interpreted as one; ToU is; ToU dictates the rights of the user and the scratch team and FAQ does not

Banana

Ember-ash

bump

DangerousDawn

Ember-ash wrote:
bump

This topic does not need bumping.

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