Well the name Linux has been trademarked and the lawsuits are being sent out.....interesting turn of events....

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25529

Though I do see their concern.

I can't find in the article the actual companies involved. Who are they after?

From the sounds of it anyone with "linux" in their name and who are a commercial company.

Linux is a trademark of Linux Torvalds, and has been for a number of years. As far as I know, no lawsuit has yet been filed. In order to maintain a trademark, you must defend it, so cease-and-decist letters are legally required. If you do not defend your trademark, the trademark office will release it, and anyone can use it or trademark it. This is nothing new.

"Letters demanding US$5000 for use of the Linux name were originally dismissed as a hoax. But according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Open Sauce king is dead serious."

The Open Sauce king? I'm sure this article is classified as "humorous"...

If Linus were out to make money on the name "Linux", I'm sure he would have done it a long time ago. But remember kids, just cause it's on the internet doesn't mean it's actually true..

Linus is out to prevent life from sucking for everyone who uses the term Linux.

Imagine this scenario:

1. Linus, being the nice guy he is, never trademarks Linux.
2. EvilCorp(tm), Inc. (tm), trademarks Linux(tm).
3. EvilCorp(tm) sends cease and decist letters demanding $10,000,000 from corporations distributing Linux (Redhat, Novell, etc.).
4. EvilCorp(tm) sends Linus Torvalds a letter demanding $100,000,000/yr for him to use Linux.

So what do you prefer?

Im not saying trademarking the name is wrong. However to turn around and sue companies who use Linux in their name doesn't seem fair to me.

And trickykid it is a true article despite the wierd souce I used there are numorous others that you can find simply searchign google.

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl...id=167&tid=106

For people who are still skeptical.

I don't know what trademarks or patents Linus has on "Linux" however, Is it really necessary to defend your (tm)? I would think that that would be up to the TrandeMark Office to do that... Once something has been trademarked I don't think they can just give it away because you refuse to fight for it...

but I am certainly not a patent lawyer

KC

First off, happy birthday kencaz.

Secondly, the following statements only apply to US law, because I'm not going to hunt down law on every planet.

First off, defending a trademark is up to the holder of the trademark, just like a patent. All the Patent and Trademark office does is prevents two entities from registering the same thing.

Secondly, in the U.S., failure to use a trademark for this period of time, aside from the corresponding impact on product quality, will result in abandonment of the mark, whereby any party may use the mark. An abandoned mark is not irrevocably in the public domain, but may instead be re-registered by any party which has re-established exclusive and active use, including the original mark owner. Further, if a court rules that a trademark has become "generic" through common use (such that the mark no longer performs the essential trademark function and the average consumer no longer considers that exclusive rights attach to it), the corresponding registration may also be ruled invalid.

On the other hand, maybe that's the point. If Linus doesn't make some effort to protect the Linux name, it might only be a matter of time before we see Linux-brand Tomato Sauce and other fine sauces

Wow! that sucks... I guess if I were to trademark something then someone with more lawyers and money could just take it out from under me... Seems a lot like the new ruling on Eminent domain accept they will just deem it public domain... Seems like rights in the US are being taken left and right....

KC

Wild how such a silly article can be taken as fact. Read The Inquirer for a while and you'll get their humor.

I like the register (which also reported on this), but only due to this fun: http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/

I already pointed out there are other sources to choose from.

So...does that mean Debian, Ubuntu, Slackware, Gentoo, Linux from Scratch, etc. are all exempt? What about Fedora, and the upcoming openSuSe? Basically it applies to Novell, Red Hat, Mandriva, Yellowdog(?)?

Huh...interesting