The Ecosystem : Branding Program

Yocto Project® Branding Program

The Yocto Project Branding Program provides an opportunity to associate the value of using a trusted project like Yocto Project with a company or product. The Yocto Project Branding Program defines steps to register ORGANIZATIONS as Yocto Project Participants, and CONTENT as Yocto Project Compatible. Yocto Project Participant is appropriate for organizations who use and support the Yocto Project publicly. Yocto Project Compatible is appropriate for products, BSPs, and other OE-compatible layers, and related open-source projects, and is open to Yocto Project member organizations.

Why Participate? The Yocto Project branding program strengthens the project's strategic initiatives by providing guidelines for the use of its branding. This program provides a minimum level of standardization in order to enable both individual contributors and corporate members to deliver implementations which support the project's goals and contribute to its ecosystem. In addition, this program is intended to provide concrete benefits by associating a common set of definitions with the use of the Yocto Project branding. Some of the goals of the Yocto Project that the program is intended to strengthen include:
  • Reduce fragmentation in the embedded market by encouraging collaborative development of a common set of tools, standards, and practices.
  • Ensure that these tools, standards, and practices are architecturally independent as much as possible.
  • Compliance as defined by the Yocto Project governs the rights for the usage of the project name, logo, and marks in association with products, marketing materials, and announcements. The Yocto Project brand guidelines (see attachment below) describe how members that follow these compliance guidelines are allowed to use these rights. As with Linux, compliance affects the commercial use of resulting products or projects created by the Yocto Project. Personal use cases are not covered. Note: The Yocto Project adheres to the guidelines set up by the Linux Foundation. Your right to use this mark is conditioned to conforming to the Linux Foundation Trademark Guidelines.

Levels, Recommendations and Terminology

The Yocto Project Branding Program defines steps to register for both individual and corporate members. The main difference between these two designations encompasses what is being registered - organizations are Yocto Project Participants, while products and software components are Yocto Project Compatible. For example, a company may register itself as a Yocto Project Participant and then register appropriate products as Yocto Project Compatible. In general, those who wish to participate in the program should complete the form appropriate to the status for which they are applying, either Yocto Project Participant or Yocto Project Compatible as described below:


Yocto Project Participant is appropriate for organizations who use and support the Yocto Project publicly. Participant status is open to open source projects, non-profits, and small companies up to 80 employees, as well as any organization currently serving as a Yocto Project member or Associate organization.

Yocto Project Participant Registration



Yocto Project Compatible status is appropriate for products, BSPs and other OE-compatible layers, and related open-source projects. These components must be maintained and submitted by an open source project, non-profit, or Yocto Project member organization.

Yocto Project Compatible Registration

Yocto Project® Trademark Guidelines

The Yocto Project Branding Program assets may only be used by application and the express permission of the Yocto Project Advisory Board. Permission Request

Use of the Yocto Project® trademarks, including the Yocto Project logo, must comply with the trademark guidelines of The Linux Foundation, which are available at https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage/. Please also note the project name is “Yocto Project”, not just “Yocto”.

To provide some additional guidance, please note that Operating Systems created with Yocto Project software are not “Yocto Project OSs” as the Yocto Project software is a set of tools and components, not a distribution per se. Instead we would prefer you say “io Open Source OS created with Yocto Project software” or “io, a Yocto Project-software created open source OS”. Please note also that the ® symbol should appear immediately after the first usage of “Yocto Project” on a given webpage or marketing materials.

Additionally, you’ll need to reference the following: “The Linux Foundation® and Yocto Project® are registered trademarks of the Linux Foundation. Linux® is a registered trademark of Linux Torvalds.”

Linux Foundation trademark usage information.