Trademarks versus copyright

Thu Jan 5 00:56:09 UTC 2006

Evan Leibovitch <evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org> writes:
> Aside: Personally I have serious concerns over the name "Linux", even in
> countries where it has a legally registered trademark. It isn't being
> protected well at all.
> 
> Legally you're supposed to get permission to use the trademark "Linux" from
> the Linux Mark Institute (http://www.linuxmark.org) and pay a fee in order to
> use it -- how many organizations have actually sought such permission? How
> many "unauthorized" users of the name have been stopped or even warned? At
> this rate, "linux" may soon go the way of "thermos" and "aspirin", two
> one-time trademarks that have become generic words that anyone can use. While
> the words still have reasonably clear definitions, such definitions are not
> privately owned or enforceable, moving to the realm of dictionary writers
> rather than creators or lawyers.

Well, I was going to say, check out how Linux International is doing this
defense of the trademark (including annual extortion to use the name now)
because that's where I thought that I read about it but their site:

        http://www.li.org

is currently coughing up:

        <HTML>
        <TITLE>li.org</TITLE>
        <BODY><P>Linux International</P></BODY>
        </HTML>

with a modified date of Dec 19th, 2005.

Time to send someone an e-mail...
-- 
g. matthew rice <matt-s/rLXaiAEBtBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>           starnix, toronto, ontario, ca
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http://www.starnix.com              professional linux services & products
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