Using the name 'Stan' for packages derived from Stan/CmdStan/CmdStanPy

General
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Hi!
I am grad student currently working on a package that uses Stan under the hood (specifically, CmdStanPy) for modeling. Ofcourse the package does more things, but Stan and the Bayesian workflow are its core components. I was thinking of including ‘Stan’ as a prefix to my package name. I have seen other stan-derivitive packages that do something similar (e.g. scikit-stan scikit_stan - Stan Regression Models in sk-learn Style — SciKit Stan documentation).
I wanted to know if that was allowed/okay, and who I could contact for permission.
Best,
Sid

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I don’t think we have any policy on this. I know that there are already some R packages that wrap RStan that use Stan in their names. Not sure about in Python. Tagging some people who may have thoughts on this @SGB @WardBrian @Bob_Carpenter and maybe others will chime in too

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Stan web page states

Both the Stan name and logo may be freely used when referencing Stan, for example, in blog posts, lecture notes, or open source software packages, but they may not be used in the branding of commercial entities, such as paid software packages or paid courses, without the express license of the Stan Governing Body.

but it does not explicitly say what is our opinion on using Stan as part of the package name which is not under stan-dev. There are already some packages that are using Stan as part of their name and we have not sued them. I remember that this has been discussed before, but I can’t remember details. I have reached for previous SGB members and other developers in case some one can point to written discussion of this before. If no-one can find the previous discussion, SGB will clarify the statement on the web page.

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Some relevant previous discussion (without a clear answer) here:

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Thanks. I’ve send a message to @storopoli to get clarification what did SGB decide in 2022. I have a suggestion for clarification, but waiting more information.

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To also comment on scikit_stan, the hope when it was started was that one day it would become an official stan-dev project. Unfortunately it was never far enough along for that consideration

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Thank you all for the response! Eagerly waiting to see everyone’s opinion on this.
Perhaps it would be appropriate to include a disclaimer indicating that a package or project is derivative and not affiliated with the official Stan team. All similar packages that use Stan under the hood could (should, in my opinion) use the same wording.

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I’m still waiting response from any of the 2022 SGB members who have possible discussed this before. I hope I can get back to you soon.

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I have now received comments from 2022 SGB, and I’ve seen the github discussion for the PR which did update Stan web page. 2022 SGB did also consult NumFocus which is the actual trademark owner.

For completness the current version of About the Stan Project – Stan is

Copyright and trademark

  • Copyright 2011–2026, Stan Development Team and their assignees.
  • The Stan name and logo are registered trademarks of NumFOCUS under the direction of the Stan Governing Body.

Both the Stan name and logo may be freely used when referencing Stan, for example, in blog posts, lecture notes, or open source software packages, but they may not be used in the branding of commercial entities, such as paid software packages or paid courses, without the express license of the Stan Governing Body. If you have any questions or would like to inquire about licensing the Stan name and/or logo for a commercial venture then please contact NumFOCUS at mailto:admin@numfocus.org.

The Stan name and Stan logo may not be used in ways that suggest the usage is endorsed by the Stan project without written permission from the Stan Governing Body.

When using the Stan logo please use either the Stan Logo png or the Stan Logo svg.

The interpretation is that using Stan as part of the name could imply that the package is coming from the Stan project. To avoid confusion, it is best that the package owner asks for permission to use Stan as part of the name. In the vast majority of cases, we would be ok with the usage on the condition that the documentation refers to Stan and it’s made clear that the package is not coming from the Stan project. As mentioned on the web page, the correct contact to ask for permission is the Stan Governing Body (SGB) at board@mc-stan.org.

It seems that your case is likely to be fine, too. To have a written record for the permission, email board@mc-stan.org with a description of the package and the proposed name.

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Thank you so much for the clarification!