License & Mark Protection

Issued by Stathmos · fourthplacestandard.org · CC BY-ND 4.0

Version 0.1 · May 2026

This document specifies two separate licensing regimes that together govern the use of the 4ᵗʰ Place project:

  1. The Standard Document. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0).
  2. The Placard Mark. Protected. Use requires venue registration and compliance with the standard.

The asymmetry is intentional. An open standard with an unprotected mark gets watered down within months by well-intentioned variants that drift from the standard’s actual meaning. A protected mark with an open standard scales without losing meaning. This project follows the recycling-triangle model, not the Pride-flag model.

Part I — The Standard Document

Licensed under Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0

The full text of the 4ᵗʰ Place Standard (4thplace-standard.md), its translations published by the maintainers, and the supporting brand brief, brand guide, and FAQs are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0).

Full license text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/legalcode

Permitted

  • Reproduce the standard in any medium, in whole.
  • Quote the standard in part, with attribution.
  • Distribute physical or digital copies.
  • Reference the standard in venue policies, press, scholarship, and commentary.
  • Translate informal explanatory text into any language (the commitment text in Section 2 is a fixed translation maintained centrally).

Not Permitted

  • Modify the standard’s text and continue to call it “the 4ᵗʰ Place Standard.”
  • Produce a derivative standard under the 4ᵗʰ Place name.
  • Distribute the standard without attribution.
  • Distribute the standard with implied endorsement of unrelated products, services, or political positions.

Attribution Requirement

When reproducing the standard, include attribution in one of the following forms:

4ᵗʰ Place Standard, version 0.1, May 2026, fourthplacestandard.org. Licensed CC BY-ND 4.0.

Or, in inline reference:

The 4ᵗʰ Place Standard (fourthplacestandard.org)

Part II — The Placard Mark

What is protected

The following are protected and may not be reproduced, modified, or distributed without authorization from the maintainers:

  1. The standardized square placard in all its locale variants (4ᵗʰ Place, 4º Lugar, 4ᵉ Lieu, 4ᵗᵉ Ort, 4ᵃ Posto, 4ᵃ Luogo, etc.).
  2. The localized ordinal glyph treatment as a recognized identifier.
  3. The wordmark “4ᵗʰ Place” when used as an identifier of standard compliance.
  4. The combined trade dress of Persian cobalt (#0C3F7C) on bone (#F4F0E8) background, fixed proportions, and standard label.

Who may use the placard

The placard may be downloaded, printed, and displayed by:

  • Venues that have registered in the public directory at fourthplacestandard.org and acknowledged the current version of the standard.
  • Journalists, scholars, and commentators discussing the standard, in editorial context (i.e., not implying endorsement).
  • The maintainers and their authorized agents.

What is not permitted, ever

  • Selling printed placards at any price above print-and-shipping cost.
  • Modifying the placard’s design (custom colors, added icons, taglines, photographs, gradients, etc.).
  • Producing tier variants (e.g., “Gold 4ᵗʰ Place,” “Premium Placard”) implying differential certification.
  • Using the placard or wordmark in advertising, sponsorship, or merchandising unrelated to standard compliance.
  • Licensing or sub-licensing the mark to third parties.

Why this restriction exists

The placard’s value is recognition: anyone, anywhere, encountering the placard knows what it means. That value collapses if the placard becomes a commercial property, a tier system, or a customized brand asset. The restriction protects the patron’s ability to trust the placard at a glance, in any venue, in any city.

A venue that meets the standard pays nothing to display the placard. A venue that does not meet the standard cannot purchase the right to display it. The mark is not for sale.

Part III — Adopter Agreement

Venue registration includes acknowledgment of the following:

  1. The venue has read the current version of the standard.
  2. The venue commits in good faith to the standard’s terms in its shared interior space.
  3. The venue agrees to display the placard in the standard format without modification.
  4. The venue agrees to be listed publicly in the directory at fourthplacestandard.org.
  5. The venue acknowledges that the placard mark is protected and that use is conditional on continued good-faith compliance.
  6. The venue understands no inspection or enforcement arm exists — the standard relies on adopters’ integrity, patrons’ reporting, and the maintainers’ light-touch review of persistent complaints.

The venue may withdraw at any time by notifying the directory and removing the placard. No fee.

Part IV — Maintainer Commitments

Stathmos, the non-profit that issues and maintains the 4ᵗʰ Place Standard, commits to the following in perpetuity:

  • The standard document, brand assets, placard downloads, and directory remain free to the public.
  • No advertising on any 4ᵗʰ Place property.
  • No paid placement, sponsored listings, or premium tiers in the directory.
  • No sale or sub-licensing of the placard mark for commercial use unrelated to compliance.
  • Material revisions to the standard are released no more than annually, with a public comment period of at least 30 days.
  • If the project incorporates as a non-profit, these commitments will be encoded in its governing documents.

If the maintainers cease operations, the standard document and all assets remain licensed as above; the placard mark protection lapses to public domain after a transition period of 24 months, during which any successor entity may petition to assume maintenance.

Part V — Disputes

The maintainers reserve the right to:

  • Privately contact venues that display the placard while routinely permitting in-scope behavior.
  • Delist venues from the public directory after persistent verified complaints.
  • Request removal of the placard from delisted venues.
  • Publicly clarify when a venue is not, in fact, a 4ᵗʰ Place — but only after the venue has been given private notice and an opportunity to respond.

The maintainers do not publicly shame venues that have withdrawn voluntarily or that have been delisted in good faith.

The maintainers will not pursue legal action against unauthorized use of the placard except in cases of:

  • Commercial sale of the placard at markup.
  • Tier-system imitations (e.g., “Premium 4ᵗʰ Place”).
  • Use of the mark in advertising for unrelated products.
  • Use of the mark to imply standard compliance by venues that have not adopted and would not, if asked, comply.

For all other unauthorized use, the maintainers will first issue a private request to discontinue. Most cases will resolve there.

Part VI — Contact

For licensing questions, mark-use clarification, or to report unauthorized use:

  • Email: standard@fourthplacestandard.org
  • Public: fourthplacestandard.org/contact

For adoption: fourthplacestandard.org/register For patron resources: fourthplacestandard.org/ask

4ᵗʰ Place License, version 0.1, May 16, 2026, Salamanca. CC BY-ND 4.0 (this document and the Standard). Mark protection separate. See above.