This trademark policy is based on the Ubuntu trademark policy and published under the CC-BY-SA license. You are welcome to base your own project trademark policies off it, just let others use your changes and give credit to the Ubuntu project as the original source. Understand that this policy is to do with the use of the Phaser trademark itself and not the act of using Phaser to create a game.
The objective of the Phaser trademark policy is to encourage widespread use of the Phaser trademarks by the Phaser community while controlling that use in order to avoid confusion on the part of Phaser users and the general public, to maintain the value of the image and reputation of the trademarks and to protect them from inappropriate or unauthorised use.
The sections below describe what is allowed, what isn't allowed, and cases in which you should ask permission.
If you have any doubt, please contact us and a member of our trademark's team will be in touch with you shortly.
If you are aware a breach or misuse of the Phaser trademarks in any way, we would appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Please contact us so that we can investigate this further.
The trademarks
Phaser Studio Inc owns the trademark Phaser. The trademark is registered in both word and logo form. Any mark starting with the word Phaser or is sufficiently similar to one or more of the trademarks that permission will be needed in order to use it. This policy encompasses all marks, in word and logo form, collectively referred to as "Trademarks".
Permitted use
Certain usages of the Trademarks are fine and no specific permission from us is needed.
Game branding. You are free to state that your game was created in Phaser. You are free to use the Phaser logo in your game in such a way that doesn't infer endorsement.
Community advocacy. Phaser is built by, and largely for, its community. We share access to the Trademarks with the entire community for the purposes of discussion, development and advocacy. We recognise that most of the open source discussion and development areas are for non-commercial purposes and will allow the use of the trademarks in this context, provided:
- the Trademark is used in a manner consistent with the Usage Guidelines below
- there is no commercial intent behind the use
- what you are referring to is in fact Phaser. If someone is confused into thinking that what isn't Phaser is in fact Phaser, you are probably doing something wrong
- there is no suggestion (through words or appearance) that your project is approved, sponsored, or affiliated with Phaser or its related projects unless it actually has been approved by and is accountable to Phaser Studio Inc. and the Phaser Project
Building on Phaser or for Phaser. If you are producing new software which is intended for use with or on Phaser, you may use the Trademark in a way which indicates the intent of your product. For example, if you are developing a game editor for Phaser, acceptable project titles would be "Phaser Game Editor" or "Phaser Based Game Editor". We would strongly discourage, and likely would consider to be problematic, a name such as PhaserEdit, PhaserEd, etc. Furthermore, you may not use the Trademarks in a way which implies an endorsement where that doesn't exist, or which attempts to unfairly or confusingly capitalise on the goodwill or brand of the project.
Commentary and parody. The Phaser trademarks are designed to cover use of a mark to imply origin or endorsement by the project. When a user downloads something called Phaser, they should know it comes from the Phaser project. This helps Phaser build a reputation that will not be damaged by confusion around what is, and isn't, Phaser. Using the trademarks in your discussion, commentary, criticism or parody, in ways that unequivocally do not imply endorsement, is permissible. Anyone is free to write articles, create websites, blog about, or talk about Phaser -- as long as it's clear to everyone -- including people completely unfamiliar with Phaser -- that they are simply referring to Phaser and in no way speaking for Phaser Studio Inc, or the Phaser project.
We reserve the right to review all usage within the open source community, and to object to any usage that appears to overstep the bounds of discussion and good-faith non-commercial development. In any event, once a project has left the open source project phase or otherwise become a commercial project, this policy does not authorise any use of the Trademarks in connection to that project.
Restricted use that requires a trademark licence
Permission from us is necessary to use any of the Trademarks under any circumstances other than those specifically permitted above. These include:
- Any commercial use, including but not limited to books, training courses and events.
- Use on or in relation to a software product that includes or is built on top of a product supplied by us, if there is any commercial intent associated with that product.
- Use in a domain name or URL.
- Use for merchandising purposes, e.g. on t-shirts and the like.
- Use of a name which includes the word Phaser in relation to an HTML5 Open-Source project.
- Services relating to any of the above.
If you wish to have permission for any of the uses above or for any other use which is not specifically referred to in this policy, please contact us and we'll let you know as soon as possible if your proposed use is permissible. Permission may only be granted subject to certain conditions and these may include the requirement that you enter into an agreement with us to maintain the quality of the product and/or service which you intend to supply at a prescribed level.
While there may be exceptions, it is very unlikely that we will approve Trademark use in the following cases:
- Use of a Trademark in a company name.
- Use of a Trademark in a domain name which has a commercial intent. The commercial intent can range from promotion of a company or product, to collecting revenue generated by advertising.
- The calling of any software or product by the name Phaser (or another related Trademark).
- Use in combination with any other marks or logos. This include use of a Trademark in a manner that creates a "combined mark," or use that integrates other wording with the Trademark in a way that the public may think of the use as a new mark (for example Club Phaser or PhaserBooks, or in a way that by use of special fonts or presentation with nearby words or images conveys an impression that the two are tied in some way).
- Use in combination with any product or service which is presented as being Certified or Official or formally associated with us or our products or services.
- Use in a way which implies an endorsement where that doesn't exist, or which attempts to unfairly or confusingly capitalise on the goodwill or brand of the project.
- Use of a Trademark in a manner that disparages Phaser, Richard Davey, Phaser Studio Inc; or its products and is not clearly third-party parody.
- On or in relation to a software product which constitutes a substantially modified version of a product supplied by the Phaser project, that is to say with material changes to the code, or services relating to such a product.
- In a title or metatag of a web page whose sole intention or result is to influence search engine rankings or result listings, rather than for discussion, development or advocacy of the Trademarks.
Logo usage guidelines
Our logos are presented in multiple colours and it is important that their visual integrity be maintained. It is therefore preferable that the logos only be used in their standard form but if you should feel the need to alter them in any way you should keep the following guidelines in mind. It should also be borne in mind that the more you wish to vary our logos from their standard form the smaller is the chance that we will be able to approve your proposed use.
- If presented in multiple colours, the logo should only use the "official" logo colours.
- You may use transparency and gradient/depth tools but should retain the "official" colours.
- Any scaling must retain the original proportions of the logo.