Following a number of successful trademark applications, "TM" was added to the basic Samvera logo. The Samvera logo is a registered trade mark in the USA and is the subject of trademark applications in Canada, the UK and the EU.
The team that founded the Hydra Project met several times in the fall of 2008 at the University of Virginia. At their meeting in December of that year the name 'Hydra' was coined. Later that same day, a hydra toy was spotted, and subsequently purchased, in a local shop - this became part of the first design used on the project's documents and presentations.