In Defense of the Linux Trademark
Intellectual property can give lawyers a headache. When it does, most of us are conditioned to ask the druggist for Aspirin, not the medical term for the active ingredient, "acetylsalicylic acid."
At one time, only Bayer could sell acetylsalicylic acid using the name Aspirin, and everyone knew the source of the product. But through lack of active enforcement of the trademark, it eventually fell into use as a generic moniker for the drug. In the 1920s, courts officially ruled that Aspirin was a generic name and that consumers did not associate the name with any particular producer.
Almost a century later, Linus Torvalds is faced with a similar issue with the trademark "Linux." While the Linux Mark Institute (LMI) is drawing some criticism for enforcing the trademark Linux, such criticism is unwarranted, given the nature of trademarks and the alternative to their enforcement.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- 1950 reads
- PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
digiKam 7.7.0 is releasedAfter three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release. |
Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand
|
Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future TechThe metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world. Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility. |
today's howtos
|
Recent comments
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago