Ask HN: Possible cybersquatter attempting to trademark 'TrueCrypt'
TrueCrypt has an old trademark issued back in 2007 but which expired after 10 years in 2017. As part of the licensing review, I discovered there is a new trademark application filed August 25, 2018 by Julien Clairet under a company named "DATA ACCESS" based in Paris, France. [1]
After searching a bit more, I discovered a thread on the KeePass SourceForge [2] where someone is asking about "keepass.com", which is also apparently registered to Julien / DATA ACCESS, but which is not the official page for KeePass (keepass.info).
It appears Keepass.com is pointing to the official download images when I browse to it, and there is a disclaimer at the bottom of the site in the fine print that it is not the official site. Obviously the site could be rendering differently for other visitors, and could be changed at any time. I am concerned that someone seems to be buying up security-critical domains and trademarks and hosting non-official download links on these sites.
There is a publication period when new Trademarks are announced and an opportunity to contest the validity of the claim. The new "TrueCrypt" trademark was published on February 20, 2019, and you have 30 days from the time that the mark is published to file any opposition.
I am preparing to file a response to USPTO, but I thought it might be worth reaching out to HN to raise awareness of the new trademark application, and perhaps better coordinate a response. I wonder if there are resources perhaps at EFF or the FSF who might be able to assist with this as well?
[1] - http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn88092713&docId=RFA20180829063346#docIndex=12&page=1
[2] - https://sourceforge.net/p/keepass/discussion/329220/thread/9929f8a4/?limit=25