Governance
Made Mark is an open specification for content authorship disclosure. The specification is CC0 — public domain, no rights reserved. The name, wordmark, and mark icons are protected so the signal stays consistent. This page explains who administers Made Mark, what uses are permitted, and how governance could evolve.
Current administration
Made Mark is currently administered by Daniel Richard Skrok, the originator of the specification.
Decisions about the specification, mark design, and official guidance are made here.
Trademark enforcement and misuse claims are handled here.
Technical infrastructure (mademark.org, JSON-LD namespace, documentation) is maintained here.
This is temporary by design. Made Mark was built to solve a problem no existing specification addresses. It launched independently because the problem is urgent and the timing was not right to wait for institutional consensus.
A labeling specification only works if people trust it. Trust requires consistency. Consistency requires someone to hold the line. Right now, that is Daniel Richard Skrok.
Why the marks are protected
The specification is CC0 because openness matters. Anyone should be able to build Made Mark into their tools, platforms, or workflows without asking permission.
The marks are trademarked because clarity matters. When someone sees the Made Mark icon, it should mean something specific and consistent. That signal degrades if the marks get modified, repurposed, or co-opted for unrelated projects.
This is the same model Creative Commons uses. The CC legal code is public domain. The CC button icons are trademarked. You can implement the licenses freely, but you cannot modify the logos or use them as your own brand. Made Mark follows that logic: the specification is open, the signal is protected.
Permitted use
You may use the Made Mark name, wordmark, and icons to:
Label the authorship of your own content.
Build tools or platforms that implement the Made Mark specification.
Write about, discuss, or reference Made Mark in documentation, articles, or commentary.
Attribute the icons as: "Made Mark, mademark.org."
You may not:
Modify the mark icons — no recoloring, altering proportions, cropping, or combining to create new marks.
Use "Made Mark" as part of your own product name, service, or brand (for example, "Made Mark Pro" or "Certified by Made Mark").
Imply official endorsement, partnership, or affiliation without explicit written permission.
Use the marks in a way that misrepresents what they mean — for example, labeling human-written content as AI Made.
Not sure whether your use is permitted? Contact hello@mademark.org
Misuse and enforcement
Misuse means:
Modifying the mark icons.
Using "Made Mark" as part of a product or service name.
Falsely claiming official affiliation or endorsement.
Deliberately mislabeling content to deceive readers.
If we see misuse, we will contact you directly and ask you to correct it. Most cases are honest mistakes and we assume good intent.
If misuse is deliberate, persistent, or harmful to the integrity of the specification, we will take appropriate action under trademark law — up to and including cease-and-desist notices or legal proceedings.
We are not looking for gotchas. We are protecting a signal people need to trust.
How stewardship could evolve
Made Mark is designed to be future-compatible with institutional stewardship. If a standards body, nonprofit, or multi-stakeholder coalition emerges that can better administer Made Mark — ensuring its integrity, independence, and accessibility — we are open to transferring or co-stewarding the trademarks and infrastructure.
Conditions for transfer:
The receiving organization must keep the specification CC0.
The mark icons must remain freely usable under CC BY-ND 4.0 or equivalent.
Made Mark must remain independent of any single commercial platform or vendor.
The core definition of the three marks cannot be altered in ways that break existing implementations.
Organizations we would consider partnering with include Creative Commons, the Internet Archive, the Open Source Initiative, the Content Authenticity Initiative, or a coalition formed specifically for authorship specifications. Until that happens, we are holding the line.
Why it is built this way
Specifications need two things to work: protection and openness. Openness ensures anyone can use them. Protection ensures they mean something when people do.
The specification belongs to everyone. The signal's integrity belongs to the mark.
If you implement Made Mark, you are not a licensee or a partner. You are part of the specification. The governance structure exists to protect what you are building, not to control it.
Contact
hello@mademark.org
hello@mademark.org
This policy was last updated June 23, 2026.