Komms name-risk decision

Decision: continue using Komms for now

Decision owner: Andri, founder and lead maintainer

Assessment date: 2026-07-26

Next scheduled review: 2026-10-26

Status: project risk decision; not legal clearance, a registrability opinion, or a finding of non-infringement

1. Decision

The project continues using the Komms name while monitoring the exact-name overlap described below. Engineering and Beta testing continue. Long-lived stable brand identifiers are not treated as legally cleared, and this decision does not claim ownership over the word.

The current response is proportionate because:

• the project is still Beta, founder-run, nonprofit in mission, and not represented as stable;
• a rename is still possible but already has meaningful package, domain, release, artwork, documentation, and wire-domain cost;
• the observed komms.app project is a real and close category overlap, but this record contains no evidence of actual user confusion, an enforcement contact, or a registry opinion; and
• monitoring plus explicit escalation triggers preserve the option to obtain qualified advice before expansion or a harder-to-reverse brand freeze.

2. Search scope and observations

This founder review used public web, domain, company, package, and official registry entry points on 2026-07-26. It is a screening record, not a professional clearance search. Search-engine absence is not evidence that a right does not exist, and company names, domains, package names, and trademarks are not interchangeable.

Closest observed overlap

Observation	Category proximity	Likely confusion surfaces	Limits of this observation
komms.app presents “Komms Protocol” as communication infrastructure using Kaspa, Hippius, and Bittensor, with a waitlist, specifications, privacy page, and a referenced application.	High. Both use the exact word Komms, the phrase Komms Protocol, cryptography/decentralization language, and communication software. The architectures and visual identities differ.	Search results; verbal recommendations; social handles; press; package/app-store searches; GitHub repository references; phrases such as “Komms protocol,” “Komms app,” and “Komms docs.”	The page establishes public use, not priority, ownership, trademark registration, market reach, or legal rights.
komms.app/privacy references Komms-protocol/komms-core as a public contact channel.	High for developer discovery and repository attribution.	GitHub search, issue reports, dependency/security notices, protocol discussions, and copied documentation links.	Repository availability, maintainership, legal ownership, and current activity require separate verification.
A KOMMS LTD is an active UK company whose filed activity includes telecommunications.	Medium category proximity, low identity evidence.	Company and provider searches in the UK.	A company registration is not a trademark record and the public filing does not establish a competing software mark.
Warframe uses “Komms” for a game resource, including in an official update.	Low product proximity.	General web search noise and social handles.	Entertainment use is materially different from a private messenger, but no legal conclusion follows.

No actual confusion report is recorded as of the assessment date.

Jurisdictions and search categories

The project begins in Iceland and publishes globally through GitHub and public package surfaces. Monitoring therefore covers at least:

• Iceland, using the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office trademark search;
• European Union registers and classification tools through EUIPO;
• international/Madrid records through the WIPO Global Brand Database and Madrid Monitor;
• the United Kingdom because of the observed telecommunications company and likely software distribution; and
• any jurisdiction targeted by an app-store launch, paid promotion, operator contract, grant, or sustained user adoption.

Screening terms include Komms, Komms Protocol, close visual/phonetic variants, and the K mark. Product categories include downloadable messaging software, mobile/desktop applications, telecommunications and message delivery, hosted software/infrastructure, cryptographic/security software, and developer protocol services. Nice classes 9, 38, and 42 are useful starting points for monitoring, not a founder determination of the correct filing classes.

No qualified person has completed a registry similarity search, common-law/use search, goods/services comparison, priority analysis, or registrability opinion for Iceland, the EU, UK, US, or Madrid designations. Those items remain open.

3. Current identifiers and migration cost

The repository currently contains the Komms name in about 200 tracked files. The cost is not limited to replacing visible prose:

Surface	Current examples	Migration consequence
Public identity	komms.org, AndriGitDev/Komms, Komms logo/screenshots, release names	Redirects, repository/package continuity, documentation and screenshot replacement, search-result ambiguity
Applications	is.andri.komms on desktop, Android, and iOS; Komms product name	Store/package migrations, signing identities, platform preferences/keychain namespaces, deep links, user-recognizable upgrade path
Distribution	Komms-*.dmg/.msi/.apk; ghcr.io/andrigitdev/komms-kultd	Release automation, container aliases, checksums, updater metadata, operator migration
Source/API	komms module/package namespaces and user-visible command names	Binding consumers, scripts, examples, support material
Protocol/storage domains	strings such as Komms-PQXDH-v1, Komms-DHT-Locator-v2, and local preference keys	A brand rename need not rewrite cryptographic domain separation, but any change would require compatibility vectors and migration rather than search-and-replace
Legal/governance	license notices, mission policy, security contacts, future trademark policy	Policy review, provenance continuity, contributor/operator guidance

Migration cost is therefore material and increasing, but still manageable before stable identifiers, app-store listings, signed update channels, and large-scale adoption exist. That supports a keep-and-monitor decision today, not indefinite deferral.

4. Confusion controls

While the name remains:

• use the repository owner and komms.org in security/release references;
• describe this project as the private resilient messenger, not merely “Komms Protocol” without context;
• do not imply affiliation with komms.app, Kaspa, Hippius, Bittensor, or the referenced Komms-protocol organization;
• route misdirected reports without collecting unnecessary information and record the event as a confusion signal;
• keep release signing identities, checksums, package origins, and security contacts prominent; and
• reserve new handles/domains only when useful, without treating registration as legal clearance.

5. Monitoring cadence

Andri owns the monitoring record until the role is delegated:

1. Monthly during Beta and stable-v1 preparation: exact-name web, GitHub, app-store, package-registry, domain, and observed-project activity check.
2. Before every public release: verify project/release descriptions, package identifiers, security contacts, redirects, and new confusion reports.
3. Quarterly registry checkpoint: record the date and search coverage for Iceland, EUIPO/WIPO, and jurisdictions where distribution or adoption has become material. The next checkpoint is 2026-10-26.
4. Event-driven review: run immediately on any trigger below.

Each review is appended through a dated change to this file or a linked public record. Silence is recorded as “no new observation,” not “cleared.”

6. Triggers for qualified trademark advice

Qualified advice becomes proportionate before the project:

• files or opposes a trademark application;
• freezes stable brand, package, update, or long-lived public wire identifiers;
• enters an app store, paid distribution, material fundraising/grants, sponsorship, operator contracts, or paid promotion;
• expands sustained targeting beyond Iceland or into a jurisdiction with a relevant observed right;
• grants official operator status or a trademark licence; or
• incurs a rename cost materially greater than the one recorded here.

Advice is sought immediately if:

• a user, contributor, operator, press contact, search result, or security reporter actually confuses the two communication projects;
• komms.app, another claimant, a platform, or counsel contacts the project about the name;
• a cease-and-desist letter, opposition, takedown, package dispute, domain dispute, or store rejection occurs;
• a relevant identical/similar application or registration is found; or
• the other project begins overlapping distribution, app-store, protocol, operator, or nonprofit messaging activity in a way that increases likely confusion.

These triggers require a qualified assessment; they do not predetermine keep, coexistence, adjustment, or rename.

7. Rename review criteria

If a trigger fires, the founder records:

• claimant/right and verified priority;
• goods/services and jurisdictions;
• evidence of actual or likely confusion;
• user-safety and security-update consequences;
• coexistence or qualifier options;
• migration sequence for domains, signed artifacts, package identities, protocol compatibility, and redirects; and
• the cost of changing now versus after the next release stage.

Until that review changes this record, the decision remains: continue using Komms for now, monitor monthly, and do not represent the name as legally cleared.