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  1. #1
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    * They also trademarked 'LINUX' !!

    If you thought the trademark of 'unmetered bandwidth' was bad, Linus have trademarked 'Linux'.

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

    edit: even though the trademark is 10 years old, the enforcement has now begun.
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  2. #2
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    That is interesting although he is the founder

  3. #3
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    I'm sure the "enforcement" is because of shady companies using the name, and he doesn't want it tarnished. I don't blame him one bit. They're starting to grow popular, now isn't the time for some second-rate overnight shop to make people think "linux" is bad.

  4. #4
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    That's fairly old news he was doing that, originally it was supposed to protect it as seraph put it. Sounds like they're going to charge companies to try to use the Linux "brand" or trademark to profit off it in various regions.

    Depending on how aggresive they are in efforting this whether it's just against say fortune 500 companies, or if they go after smaller companies using the mark it could have a chilling effect on linux usage. Supporting open source these days as more and more companies try to monetize it can easily lose that "free" label as the total cost is figured in over time vs OS's like windows.

    That $5,000 they were quoted as attempting to charge an australian company almost sounds worse than the licensing fees SCO was trying to extort.

  5. #5
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    Re: They also trademarked 'LINUX' !!

    Originally posted by cabalstudios
    If you thought the trademark of 'unmetered bandwidth' was bad, Linus have trademarked 'Linux'.

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

    edit: even though the trademark is 10 years old, the enforcement has now begun.
    he is the creator of linux while midphase is not the first to offer unmetered bandwidth. one is inventor and the other (midphase) is a clown. big difference!

  6. #6
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    Wait a minute...

    I thought it was "GNU-Linux". Just how much did Torvalds "create" anyway? Before he gets all aggro on the legal front, perhaps he should reconsider his competitor-bashing remarks:

    http://news.com.com/Torvalds+a+Solar...?tag=nefd.lede

    The opening statement of that article sums up nicely:

    ...Linus Torvalds successfully harnessed the talent of thousands of programmers to create Linux...
    These folks were independent developers, not Torvalds' employees.

    Be that as it may, betcha those Aussie companies will fork over the $5K before they abandon the Linux name, which is the free alternative, and doesn't mean they can't continue to market the OS under a different brand.

    Collecting license fees is an excellent way to establish and/or protect a TM. When suing those who don't comply, the TM holder can point to not only the impact on his own business, but those of his official licensees as well.

    It seems to me that they have taken some action besides just grandstanding. They have resurrected the x86 version and added several interesting features--containers, DTrace, and ZFS, for example--that are available today in beta versions of Solaris 10. They're actively rounding up support from developers and software companies. And they announced that the production version of Solaris 10 on x86 will be available for free. What do you think about the x86 move and the new Solaris features?

    Solaris/x86 is a joke, last I heard. (It has) very little support for any kind of strange hardware. If you thought Linux had issues with driver availability for some things, let's see you try Solaris/x86.
    I beg to differ. There are enough desirable features in that OS to ensure independent driver development. Maybe you have to purchase a 3rd-party driver to get an adapter working, or maybe you just need to stick to the current HCL, but it's silly to blow off the advances in Solaris 10 as irrelevant.

    It's too bad that Linus has closed his mind outright to these things. DTrace, for instance, is a tool that Linux would do well to imitate. I worry for the future of the Linux OS when the man directing its development starts believing in his own infallability.

    </IMHO>
    Last edited by BigBison; 08-19-2005 at 06:22 PM.
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  7. #7
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    Just how much did Torvalds "create" anyway?
    How about the whole damn thing

    Whether he "harnessed" indidivual resources, or not, he's the brains, and he's the one generally referred to as the daddy of it all. Without him, kernel development would be , well, completely obsolete.

    Linux, in and of itself is one thing: the kernel.
    All of the extra stuff is quite vendor specific, and in many rights GNU related, though in some cases not so.

    Example:
    It used to be (way back when) that pine and pico were distributed as part of any Linux distro. Now, even the more benevolent distrobutions have removed this (though you may still find it on some). Why? UW's licensing for this got out of hand, so the distros stopped shipping with it.

    The ONE thing common with each and every Linux distribution (note: linux, not bsd, which is NOT linux, or not related to) is the kernel. This is because it is the core, the heart of the distro, and still maintained, and operated by Linus today. If he doesn't do it, he has a number of individuals that work with/for him on it.

    There's nothing wrong with what Linus is doing in this case. He owns the trademarks, and could very legally charge every company that offers "linux support" . Thankfully he hasn't gone down that road yet.


    When it comes down to it, Linus IS Linux, contrary to what other, less informed individuals may believe about the men in the red hats.

    efore he gets all aggro on the legal front, perhaps he should reconsider his competitor-bashing remarks:
    Those are not the same, and, if someone asks his opinion, then he has every right to share it. IF, in his personal experience he has noticed those things, or been told those things, then he has every right to say them. It's not "bashing" , it's the way that things are done. If they have no hardware support, then this should be known. Who better than Linus to make it so ?
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  8. #8
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    Originally posted by linux-tech
    Who better than Linus to make it so ?
    Someone who isn't quite so biased, perhaps?

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