Keyboard Builders' Digest / Community
The Planck debate
An interesting insight into the early history of the Planck, synonym for the 4x12 ortho.
Published March 9, 2022
Since I'm not interested in ortho layouts, I haven't given much thought to the Planck or any other similar designs and, for me at least, the name Planck has been a synonym for the 4x12 ortholinear keyboard for as long as I can remember.
However, it turns out the Planck name (and btw also QMK) are trademarks of Jack Humbert, and the whole Planck topic has an interesting and disputed history rooting in a cooperation of Jack Humbert and Pierre Carrier back in 2014.
I bookmarked this thread for reference because it has a lot of useful links.
In short:
After discovering the Danck debacle, Pierre Carrier aka ptramo decided to set up a dedicated page to link to some early resources and the already published Planck files, etc., and to encourage people to use the Planck name freely since it was coined by him and is in the public domain.
But what's the Danck debacle?
In 2017, there was a 4x12 ortho project going by the name of "Danck" and advertised as "The hella low cost Planck" so Jack intervened:
"The name Danck and the form factor, which is identical to the Planck, combine to create the confusing impression that your product is somehow related to, sponsored by or endorsed by Planck. As you may know, I developed the “Planck” keyboard and have been selling the product from many years. In addition to common law rights, we have a pending US Trademark Application for the mark. The form factor on its own would have been fine and welcomed into the community (such as many before it) - but combined with the name and the way you have now have related the terms, it is not" – Jack Humbert (2017).
The GB runners quickly renamed the project and everyone was happy.
Now, after discovering that thread after almost four years, Pierre claims (and Jack seems to acknoledge this) that the Planck name was originally his idea and they worked on the Planck layout together – this was in 2014 so it's bygone history now.
Pierre also claims that the trademark has no grounds:
I have designed, named, made, and advertised a keyboard under that name before their first reported use of it – Pierre.
And also:
Trademark reg. 5592164 for the word mark PLANCK, being in the supplemental register, is not prima facie evidence that the registrant owns the mark and has the exclusive right to use the mark in commerce – Pierre.
The Planck project is under the CC0 1.0 license since 2014. This was Pierre's idea too and Jack agreed.
Make them, sell them, name them Planck or Danck – Pierre.
Files: https://github.com/pcarrier/planck
(FYI, at some point Jack references the TypeMatrix keyboard using the term "ortho-linear" for the first time – in 2003. More on this in a separate TypeMatrix post.)
Published on Wed 9th Mar 2022. Featured in KBD #69 (source).
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