General guidelines:
The following guidelines always apply to any use of the Trademarks, whether licensed or
unlicensed. To see if you need a license, see below under “License agreement required.”
• Joyent, the Node.js project, and our software must be clearly distinguishable from any
software that competes with the Node.js software, and from software or services by any
company or individual that is not owned by Joyent.
• The Node.js marks must not be used to disparage Joyent, or the Node.js software or
project, nor be used in any way to imply ownership, endorsement, or sponsorship of any
Node.js-related project or initiative of any kind.
• Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted to allow any third party to claim any
association with Joyent or the Node.js project, or to imply any approval or support
by Joyent or the Node.js project for any third party products or services.
• Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted to allow any use of marks owned by
Joyent (such as Joyent, SmartDataCenter, or otherwise) other than those associated
directly with the Node.js project. To use other trademarks owned by Joyent, contact
Joyent directly.
License agreement required:
To use the Node.js Trademarks, you must contact Joyent and obtain a written license agreement,
unless your usage falls into one of the exceptions described below.
Any sort of use in commerce, such as promoting a Platform-as-a-Service or professional services
offering by using the Node.js mark, does require a written license agreement.
If your usage does not fall into one of the exceptions described below, don’t give up! Instead,
contact us- we’d like to work with you to understand what you’re doing and try to create a
licensing arrangement that protects the Node.js mark while still allowing you to use it.
Exceptions:
Use in the following ways does not require a written license agreement:
Nominative Use or Non-Trademark Use
Nominative uses are uses that refer to a mark in a factual manner, using only so much of
the mark as is necessary and doing nothing to imply sponsorship or endorsement by the
trademark holder. Nominative uses may not require a license under trademark law. If
you have questions about any of these uses, and whether they constitute a trademark use
that requires a license, please contact us. Some examples of permitted nominative fair
use:
• "I recommend (or don't recommend) Node.js for your business."
• "This <here> is the graphic logo for Node.js software."