The Moodle Trademark

The brand and word “Moodle” has trade mark protection in many countries around the world. Various Moodle trade marks are owned by either Moodle Pty Ltd or one of its associated entities. The law obligates trade mark owners to police their trade marks and prevent the use of confusingly similar names by third parties.

We have created a more concise and thorough set of Trademark Guidelines to help you understand how to comply with Moodle’s trade mark requirements. The Trademark Guidelines will also assist our Moodle Certified Partners and the community to understand some of the principles that inform Moodle’s stance whenever potential infringement has been detected by us or our community.

We need to be clear about use of the word “Moodle” and how we restrict its use when promoting commercial Moodle™ branded services. The proper use of trade marks reliably assures consumers about the quality of the associated products or services and where they have been derived from. Because the Moodle LMS is made available under the open source ‘GNU General Public License’ that permits you to modify the copyrighted software, the distribution of such modified software in combination with Moodle trade marks can potentially mislead others in the community. To be clear, the GNU GPL does not include an implied right or licence to use Moodle’s trade marks.

We do all this to protect the very business model that allows us to continue developing various Moodle software solutions for you.

Allowed uses of “Moodle”

The following uses don’t require any permission at all:

  • Referring to the software or the Moodle project as the “Moodle software” or the “Moodle™ project”
  • Describing your own implementation of the Moodle software platform (including within corporate settings).
  • Describing a Moodle-based community hub.
  • Describing certain software you’ve made that integrates with Moodle branded software (e.g. a Moodle integration feature on another system).

Restricted uses of “Moodle”

The following uses are generally prohibited without explicit and direct permission being granted to you by Moodle Pty Ltd. We do this to protect the Moodle project from software and sites which could confuse people. If in doubt, reach out for clarification at trademarks@moodle.com

  • Without prior written permission from Moodle HQ, you can’t use the word “Moodle” or any Moodle logos for commercial purposes to indicate that you are in any way associated with or endorsed by Moodle.
  • You can’t use “Moodle” in the name of your software (including Mobile apps).
  • You can’t use “Moodle” in your company name.
  • You can’t use “Moodle” in your domain name.
  • You can’t use “Moodle” in advertising-related keywords (such as Adsense).
  • You can’t use “Moodle” to describe services around Moodle (such as hosting, training, support, consulting, course creation services, theme development, customisation, installation, integration, analytics and certification) that cause consumers to be confused that you are associated with Moodle HQ if you are not. This applies even if you do not charge for the services. Note that usually only Moodle Partners have this permission.

The Moodle™ Brand

Our Brand Guidelines are an important tool for Moodle HQ, our Moodle Certified Partners, and the broader Moodle community in ensuring that where approved the Moodle brand is presented and expressed correctly and consistently across applications. It provides comprehensive information on Moodle’s brand identity, including our mission, values, personality and principles; voice and tone; communications principles; logos; colour palette, typography, imagery; supporting graphical devices and composition.

Please comply with these guidelines to ensure consistency in how the Moodle brand is represented in the global marketplace and to avoid violation of our trademark rights.

Thank you for your commitment to this process.

Please contact us for further details about our brand guidelines.