Intellectual Property on GitLab.com

Name Policy

GitLab.com namespace names — that is, usernames and top-level group names — are available on a first come, first served basis. No one can claim priority rights to any such name on GitLab.com, including when the claim is based on a trademark registration.

GitLab will only review reports related to names on GitLab.com under our Trademark Policy or Name Squatting Policy. If you believe either applies to your circumstances, follow the relevant policy’s instructions to submit a report.

Trademark Policy

Our Trademark Policy covers any trademark use by users on GitLab. More specifically, it covers trademark use in (i) a name on GitLab (i.e., namespaces and project names), and (ii) any other user-provided content on GitLab, such as content in a repository.

GitLab is not in a position to investigate, assess or adjudicate trademark disputes between third parties. If you believe a person’s use of GitLab infringes your trademark, contact the third party that you believe is infringing your rights to resolve the matter, or seek resolution by available legal means.

However, GitLab may review a trademark infringement claim related to a third party’s use of GitLab.com, and may intervene, where both of the below criteria are satisfied:

• you provide evidence to GitLab’s satisfaction that you are holder of a relevant trademark registration, and
• you provide clear evidence to GitLab’s satisfaction showing that unauthorized use is being made of your trademark such that there is an obvious intent to mislead others into believing that the relevant GitLab entity (user, repository, group, etc.) is affiliated with the trademark owner.

Trademark infringement claims can be submitted by following the instructions below. If your claim satisfies the above criteria, GitLab may take appropriate action.

How to submit a trademark infringement claim

To submit a trademark infringement claim under the Trademark Policy, send the following information to dmca@gitlab.com:

1. Details of the original trademark (and a description if it’s a logo).
2. A list of the countries in which the trademark is registered.
3. The registration number(s) of the trademark.
4. Evidence that you are holder of a relevant trademark registration, such as a scanned copy of the trademark registration certificate(s) or screenshot of the registration on the website or database of the applicable national intellectual property office(s).
5. Evidence that unauthorized use is being made of your trademark such that there is an obvious intent to mislead others into believing that the relevant GitLab entity (user, repository, group, etc.) is affiliated with the trademark owner.
6. A declaration of the following statement: “By submitting this trademark infringement notice, I state that I have a good-faith belief that the reported use, in the manner that I have complained of, is not authorized by the intellectual property rights owner, its agent or the law; that the information contained in this notice is accurate; and, under penalty of perjury, that I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property rights at issue”.

Name Squatting Policy

Per the GitLab Subscription Agreement:

Intentional name squatting, or purchasing, soliciting, or selling of an account name is prohibited.

The GitLab.com Support Team will consider a namespace — that is, usernames and top-level group names — to fall under the provisions of this policy when the user account or group has not been used for an extended time. A namespace subject to this policy may be reassigned by GitLab, and the following criteria guide our reassignment decisions.

A username may be reassigned if both of the following are true:

1. The user’s last sign in was at least two years ago.
2. The user is not the sole owner of any active projects.

A top-level group name may be reassigned if one of the following is true:

1. There is no data (no project or project(s) are empty).
2. The owner’s last sign in was at least two years ago.
3. If the namespace contains data, GitLab Support will attempt to contact the owner over a two-week period before reassigning the namespaces. If the namespace contains no data (empty or no projects) and the owner is inactive, the namespace will be released immediately.
4. Namespaces associated with unconfirmed accounts over 90 days old are eligible for immediate release. Group namespaces that contain no data and were created more than 6 months ago are likewise eligible for immediate release.

Name squatting reports can be submitted by following the instructions below. If your report is satisfactory, GitLab may take appropriate action.

How to submit a name squatting report

To submit a name squatting report under our Name Squatting Policy, contact GitLab Support and provide the following information:

• The namespace (username or top-level group name) you are seeking to reassign.
• The justification for the reassignment request, as described in the policy.

Account and Group Ownership Disputes

Please refer to GitLab.com Specific Support Policies for further information.