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Uruguayan SuSE Reseller Trying to Trademark Linux
Ysidoro writes "With No. 316.081 of August 30, 1999 has been filed before the Uruguayan Trademark Office a trademark application for registration of the LINUX name to International class 42 (computer related services). This application has been filed by Mr. Francisco Pereira and Mr. Enrique Place de Cuadro, of Montevideo, Uruguay. In accordance with the official publication from the Industrial Property Bulletin No. 6 of December 1999.
See the open letter writed by a group of Uruguayan Linux users. "
I think these guys are just trying to get us geeks back for laughing at that Simpsons where Homer called their country 'you-are-gay' ...
Did anyone from /. ask SuSE for a comment? I'd be interested to know where they stand on this.
s/capabilidad/capacidad/
s/respecto/respeto/
s/dé/da/ (not actually completely wrong, but sounds a bit strange)
s/proprio/propio/
There's other minor weird things here, but one comes specially to attention: the use of the formal pronouns ("usted", abbreviated "Vd", and associated verbal morphology) when insulting the addressee. It is usual to use the familiar form "tu" when insulting, specially when cuss words are used.
Still, for a second-language speaker of Spanish, this gets an "A", I'd say ;-)
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Hmmn. I'm not that familiar with SuSE's OS, but isn't it a violation of the various Free/Open Source licenses for them to grant exclusivity in distribution? I understand wanting control of the channel and all that, but don't they have to allow for redistribution of all of the free parts of their OS? And therefore they cannot say 'you have exclusive rights,' since that... well, EXCLUDES redistribution?
The actual story, the trademark thing, that'll work itself out correctly. I'm more interested in this exclusivity subplot, and whether SuSE is willfully breaking license, or if this is a misunderstanding on someone's part (like mine, for instance), or what....
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If worst comes to worst, I think RedHat could buy Uruguay and the patent office themselves.
Supposing the Uruguayan supplier is acting improperly, it would be a perfectly reasonable idea for Linux folk to "have a chat" with the nice folks at SuSE.
If they are allowing suppliers to act improperly, then it might be proper to let SuSE know that this is not acceptable to people that aren't in Uruguay.
For instance, if the situation is as suggested, it's reasonably likely that the local LUG may send a respectful letter to SuSE explaining how we might encourage members not to use SuSE's products.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
I understand that many people believe vulgarity is automatic game for moderation, but I'd just like to add that I disagree. We're all humans, and expressing ourselves using vulgarity in a forum like this seems perfectly acceptable to me. I believe this because Slashdot discussions are more rough and truthful than they are professional and polite. On this basis, I agree that vulgarity is indeed acceptable if it's an effective way to get the point across. I think this was a good use of vulgarity. It surely struck a patriotic chord in my nerves :)
</OFFTOPIC>
the real at&t mix
What I think they're worried about is that anyone else trying to sell anything with the "linux" name on it in their country will be banned. You'd have to call it something else. Unless you can wing enough power to force change, but that involves Big Corporations and Political Pressure.
Also what's interesting is the Dilbert comic at the bottom of that same page.
The comic even has in it:
"Redistribution in part or in whole is strictly prohibited"
These guys just don't get it do they? =)
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At the time, I could walk into a number of legitimate businesses and "purchase" software for about $2.00US per disk. The disks, of course, were copies. This was totally legal. I obtained a ton of nice games. It was great. Then one of the businesses was almost shut down because the owner had sold xeroxed copies of manuals. While it was legal to make copies of programs, copying manuals was definitely illegal. His business put up posters showing Uncle Sam stepping on Uruguay. Even though I am from the US, I found this really amusing and even sympathized. The amount charged for software in countries like Uruguay is extremely disporportionate to the amount of money the average person earns. The US software industry, with MS at the helm, is an oppressor of less wealthy nations and peoples.
Now, these jokers seem to be pulling some sort of scam in the that is the inverse of what I experienced. Perhaps the laws have swung in the opposite direction.
Suse is their supplier.
... harsh ... than a blacklist, and would have the advantages of rewarding the good players rather than only punishing the vultures. This begs a whole series of questions, such as who would be doing the rating and how, and how complaints like this would be processed, how to avoid improper "astroturf" complaints by competitors against one another, etc.
If Suse were made aware of the situtation through numerous angry but polite letters, they might well reconsider doing business with that entity. The taint of LunuxTech's reputation could easilly spread to Suse in that region, undermining Suse's ability to sell their product via any vendor. This is something Suse has an interest in preventing, and they might be able to exert some pressure on LinuxTech to behave in a manner more appropriate to the Linux community.
Of course, legal and "out-legal" action should continue in parallel.
Has anyone considered a "rating" page for Linux companies? Something that would let the unititiated, or someone who has been on vacation for three weeks, know how well a particular entity is behaving vis-a-vis the Linux community? This would be less
Thoughts?
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Remember the story about the Linux trademark in Korea? Does anybody have an update on this?
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
2. Just because you've never heard of a Swiss company doesn't mean it isn't well known in Switzerland.
I assume it's well-known in Switzerland, it's a swiss company. The question is whether it's well-known internationally. And the fact that I've never heard of it suggests it's not well-known outside its own area (obviously, I don't think that's concrete evidence).
3. That's just begging the question. "Because they're evil, they shouldn't do this."
As far as trademark goes, consider this: if you were starting a Linux company in a country, and realized you were in danger of somebody evil trademarking the name, what could you do to protect yourself? Can you initiate a trademark in Linus' name? Probably not. *Somebody* has to own the trademark, otherwise all Linux businesses are in danger. Ideally, this would be a non-profit, but I don't know the details of Uruguayan trademark law, and I doubt you do either.
I haven't heard the LinuxTech side of this argument. I've heard the users' group side, and it isn't very well thought out. I'm just saying lets not shun and attack these folks until we actually have some real info.
...I wonder what else they'll try to trademark. Might they trademark "KDE" and "Gnome" too? Or maybe, if they're really serious about this, could they change their names to "Linus Torvalds"? This will probably be a lesson learned to the offenders, after they go out of buisiness because noone will buy from them. Fuck off guys, the Linux community doesn't need or want people like you.
In short, what these people are doing is PURE BS!
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
But then I realized that I had Uruguay confused with Paraguay. A quick look at the map cleared that up.
I think these trademark issues that pop up around the globe are a great way to track the spread of linux. It's not really big in a country until someone thinks it would be profitable to corner the market right? Is anyone keeping a list of countries where this has happened and a date? In 3 years you could then make a movie where countries get colored in as someone tries to trademark linux. Speed it up enough and you can watch linux spread across the globe. This would be cool - assuming the trademark applications and such all get rejected - otherwise the film would be depressing.
--Shoeboy
The difference? The category of trademark. Note that the company has asked for a trademark related to computer services. One assumes they'd try to market themselves as the owner of Linux, confusing people. This is what trademark law was designed to avoid. If they had asked for a trademark related to say a dance company or something, who would care? (NB: The somewhat made-up nature of Linux might make this a little questionable, IANAL - yet. So don't start playing games with Coke or Nike or Microsoft or somebody.) As long as the trademarks are in different fields of use, two companies can have identical names. That's why Windows 99 Beer is perfectly okay.
This company looks quite decent, actually. However, some of the sections look like copied&&translated text rather than original writing. I don't know if it's a word-for-word copy, but the FSF section on their site looks awfully familiar. Of course, much of this is probably due to the Babelfishery (I don't think the site was created by "The equipment of LinuxTECH.", for example :)).
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
If you had read the letter, you wouldn't have made that mistake.
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
The boxed SuSE distro has printed docs, some non-redistributable software (IIRC), and support. None of this comes with the CD you press. If SuSE wants to grant a company the exclusive rights to resell the boxed SuSE distro in a particular country, they have every right (and possibly sense, given the size of the Uruguayan market for commercial Linux distros) to do so.
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
Is trademarking any different from corporate branding? If someone tried to trademark NikeLinux or CokeLinux, lawyers would be at your door the morning after they heard of it. Are Nike and Coke protected more because they cover several different markets (shoes/sports/clothing - softdrinks/sports/clothing), while Linux is "just an OS"?
If Nike and Coke have special rights because they have a brand name, we should promote the fact that Linux has an assortment of geek clothing as well. The unique rise in production of stuffed penguins in the last ten years is not coincidental.
Next, we take the bankrupt LinuxOne and turn them into our softdrink distribution company; 'LinuxOne, the refreshing Linux beverage.' PowerSolutions can sell our soda at Californian flea markets while giving away cds. Then come the promotional geek trading cards...
I did have a serious question but it seems to have slipped away.
"I have a cunning plan..."
And this would be the what? The "two wrongs make a right" philosophy? By advocating an ILLEGAL attack?
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
Linus is from finland
"Suble Mind control? why do html buttons say submit?",
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
If you look at http://www.linuxtech.ch , you will see that some halfwits have been flaming them. They apparently have nothing to do with Linuxtech in Uruguay.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
What did you base that statement on? Any facts? Or is it just a Troll?
(no, I do not work for SuSE).
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
When that hypothetical day arrives in which a second language with the tenth part of the capabilidad Vista in the authors dominates You whose works -- and whose cause -- we already discussed, perhaps because then putas will be able to say to four words on the good spelling. But now, nor it is happened to him. Go bad-mannered that is You who do not realize respect due to these dear gentlemen! I assure to him that benefit will have translated this news not by his proprio, but by You That is, it cállese the snout, ungrateful idiot!
It didn't translate several swears (including puta), but the meaning shows through.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Don't worry, I (and I'm sure others) support making sure that any Tom, Dick, and Harry in *.* country that has trademarking, do not obtain an unfair trademark on an OpenSource project of any kind. Hiring lawyers is certainly a plan, but perhaps it'd be better to start a fund so that the local LUG can get a local lawyer (who will know local law better).
I suspect that the moderator will likely be M2ed out of his or her priviledge of moderation. With, IMO, just cause.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Erhm, isn't it a bit wrong to advocate electronic terrorism or DoS attacks? Especially considering some of the bad press such things gives the Linux Community..
Unless, of course, you meant "send them a nice message saying you do not support their actions" when you said "please, hit THIS site early and often."
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Yes, this is offtopic, and I realize it will be moderated down quickly, but it deserves a bit more notice than the near automatic -1 moderation it recieved. The fat-time charlie online serial Give it a read, if only because you won't be hearing from the author in the Slashdot forums anymore.
/. radar long enough to be seen, eh fat-time?
And if you're an aspiring artist, perhaps you'll drop the fellow some mail. The serial is damn funny, but it would be even better with some fittingly surrealistic illustrations.
I knew +1 was good for something. Hope it stays on the
.sig: Now legally binding!
Folks take this with a bit of sarcasm. trickfish, I appologize for the flame ahead of time. My point is hopefully evident.
.org name, because after all, Joe User who has an intrest in linux farts has an aversion to that kind of domain. And of course, if I left open a similar domain name, and competition gobbled it up, they would be looking at a compettetors web site instead of mine. And Joe User who is interested in linux farts certainly wouldn't want to see if there is any other information on linux farts, maybe do a search, or type in alternate endings. Maybe they have a better site than you... The "other team" is still concerned with linux farts... the question is, who has more *usable* information.
Well, if eToys.com can own etoys.org, etoys.net, and even eToyssucks.com, shouldn't they buy up etoy.com as well since it is *close* to their name. Who cares if its another company...
Yes, say if I ran www.linuxfarts.org, specializing in linux farts (of all things), then I *must* be the sole expert in linux farts. Since obviously we're the experts, no one else should be allowed to own a linuxfarts domain, because we're the experts and we should get all the traffic.
Obviously can't market a
Why does this really happen though? Because we're breading stupider users...Why are we breeding stupider users? Because we tell them stuff we know is a lie and we call it marketing. Stuff like, "AOL gives me stuff that I can't find anywhere else on the web." Or eventually "We've got better HOWTOs on how to properly use LinuxFarts..." Its just a big lie. We've wrecked internet1 and turned it into a really trendy version of the Home Shopping Network. God, I dread the day Universities make the mistake of opening up I2 to corporations (who will once again claim "for research purposes" until they figure out some way to market their ideas)
Ok... so, that's my rant... a little discombobulated but that's my rant...
I'm sorry you were the author of the message that triggered it trickfish, I understand your sentiment... as corporately warped as it is...
You say you want a revolution?
For me the most interesting thing is the way people are tying trade marks to domains.
I work for a Management Consultant company looking at expanding into Internet Consultancy. We were just briefed by specialist IT lawyers in Aust to trademark ALL domain names to prevent Brand Erosion. With disputes over domain names going to court overhere and the fact that it is harder to buy a domain off (you have to buy the underlying business as well) a company or individual, trademareking a domain name has been seen as a short-cut to legally acquiring a domain name that was previously unavailable.
I like Shakespear best - wasn't it something like lets kill all the lawyers?
The MyTh - I am a figment of the Imagination - [Im Probably even not here]
okay, people, I'll go meta-moderate, just in case I get this one, but why is a post that:
1. incorrectly states someone is trying to "copyright" (not trademark) Linux
and
2. Advocates attempting a DOS against them
Moderated up as insightful? It's not really a troll, it's not really redundant, or anything, but plese, don't moderate this crap UP so that it appears at the top of the comments.
--Kevin
(sorry for being off topic)
We at UYLUG know that LINUX is a name that belongs to the community and its legal owner is Linus Torvalds. We applied registration to avoid improper trademark applications, as we resolved in our meetings and official acts since 1998. Both Linus Torvalds and Linux International are noticed about our application and our offer to transfer them the official proceedings. Heber Godoy - Andres Tarallo President - Secretary Uruguay Linux User Group
Responses to your responses:
2. Just because you've never heard of a Swiss company doesn't mean it isn't well known in Switzerland. There are countries in the world besides your own. And do you think it would be OK for a Uruguayan company to call itself RedHat or Microsoft or Ford?
3. I think they're pointing out that they are using the free, unrestricting nature of the Linux community at the same time as they are actively attempting to destroy it in Uruguay.
And lastly, trademarking something which you have no right to trademark in any circumstance is wrong. If it were your "small country", you might feel a little bit differently.
I'm cuurently in the process of patenting the letter 'e'
this way i can have exclusive rights to use it, and also i can charge people to use it. you can no longer say 'I'm a good worker', you must use the phrase 'I'm a good work-guy'.
GIVE ME A BREAK
'Mullethead. A hairstyle that's a way of life'
Anyway, it would be ridiculous to afford them trademark protection for the name Linux--even if that protection doesn't actually help!
And Rilke, as for saying that this only matters to Uruguay, and that the concerns of a User Group are not important -- shame on you! Without User Groups to defend the rights of the little people you'd see corporations like Microsoft and IBM swamping the legal system with all sorts of things. User Groups also do a helluva lot of the thinking; without them quite possibly the whole issue being debated (i.e. the Unix (read Linux) Operating System) would not have been born.
As for name copying -- well you may not have heard of LinuxTECH, but that's not the point! The point is this Uruguayan firm is obviously trying to double cross everybody. Let's list the points:
i. They get exclusive rights to redistribute SuSE -- I thought this was not allowed under the GPL???
ii. -- They name themselves LinuxTECH, either in a deliberate attempt to fool/swindle the general computing community in Uruguay or because they can't think of a good enough name by themselves.
iii. -- The registration application for registration of the LINUX name to the International class 42. Although it's possible for it to be granted it really shouldn't since "Linux" really isn't their name to trademark, and especially since the kernel itself is Copyright 91-94 by Linus himself.
It all looks sneaky to me!
With regard to the domain name thing though...the Uruguayans don't have a leg to stand on... As you say it's just like the difference between linux.com and linux.org.
What to do about it? Well I think people who are feeling evil could mount a DOS attack if they feel like it... Personally I don't think that Pereira and Place will listen to anyone. Hopefully the people who decide about trademarks will have the sense to research what Linux is and realise that they just can't have it!
This issue raises a point that has already been highlighted in a previous discussion in Slashdot, and I think it is the central point. First let me say what is not an issue here:
GPL isn't being broken in any way.
They applied for a trademark, not a patent (some still mistake one for the other).
They do not seem to be willing to enforce this trademark ownership. In their first page there is a button entitled "How to get Linux" which links to this page, which I dare to try to translate, despite my lousy Spanish (worse than my English!):
Linux is free and you don't have to pay for licenses or to obtain it. There are companies in the world market which take the burden to prepare Linux "distributions". These distributions are CD's that in genneral include an extensive set of applications, manuals, plus an applications that allows you to install and even administrate your system in a user-friendly way.
Many development hours are invested in these distributions so as the finished product owns nothing to its commercial alternatives, in most cases including 30 or more days of free installation support. Its cost is much more accessible than that of any commercial software.
Anyway, these companies have publicly available free internet sites where one can download or update these distributions.
It is worth clarifying that if you do not have the time or a very fast connection, it is always much more convenient to buy an already assembled and tested distribution.
Then you have links to the major distributors.
I am convinced that their intention is to protect themselves from an oportunistic move from someone else. I may be wrong.
What is really an issue here is that Linux (and GPL) seem to be pretty orphan when the time comes to protect trademarks and so on. I remember there was a company in Brazl back in 83 called "Microsoft", they started their business about the same time as M$, and the association which leads to the brand name seems to be quite an obvious one, so I don't have reasons to believe that they wanted to fool anyone into thinking they were something else other than themselves. A couple of years later, M$ was already established in Brazil and demanded them to change their name and got a court ruling for that, so the company was renamed "Multisoft". Now, who would act as a legitimate party in such cases so as to protect Linux's name and image? Linus owns the tm alright, but is he willing to put all the energy and resources needed in each case, considering he has other interests right now? (BTW, I'm damn curious about it!) Once we all have an interest in this, would it be fair to put such a burden on his shoulders?
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"People ask FAQs all the time". - David Allen
"...what avail? All serious Linux users will avoid them like the plague."
Sorry, but I have to say something on this. The open source community will definitely avoid them like the plague. On this I have no doubt. BUT, Linux is starting to become commonly used in industries other than computing. And many people in these other industries (and even in the computing industry) really don't care about open source, free software, and the like. When it comes right down to it, these people have to answer to the bottom line (and marketing gimmicks, let's be honest here), and if they can get a product that does the job at a better price (or at least believe they can), they'll jump on it. They don't (and won't) care about the other "issues" regarding that product.
So, while it is likely that "serious Linux users" will boycott this and other companies, the reality (I feel) is that in the near future the "serious Linux users", or the proponents of open source, will begin to make up the minority of the Linux market.
This, unfortunately, is a side effect of Linux becoming a Mainstream Product, as opposed to something that "those computer guys in the basement like to play with." And if you want to fight it, you need to do more than complain (not directed at MostlyHarmless, but rather the general community) about what company X is doing. Start by educating yourself (if you haven't already) on what it means to Trademark, Patent, or enforce Copyright and Trade Secret, and what the differences are. Find out what the IP laws are in your country, and maybe neighboring countries and economic parters. And most importantly, understand these laws before complaining about them. And stop saying IANAL!!
If you want to stop the bandwagon, you can either do it from on board, or stand in front of it and get run over.
Trademark is a very funny thing. Many things are not trademarkable, e.g., commonly used terms, words that has other special meaning (this makes me wonder how windows get trademarked, or is it not trademarked?). I believe Linux fall into a commonly known terms that cannot be trademark, i.e. if registration office do their homework.
- Etam
I'm not sure about what's going on internationally, but I do know that Linus Torvalds has the name "Linux" registered with the US trademark office.
"Make it idiot proof, and someone will make a better idiot."
Mostly, the bad guys online give themselves away with everything they do. They try and hide it, but... you can just smell it. The lack of feeling for what a community is. The money-oriented thinking. The Microsoftisms in their HTML. Look at the Linux One pages for an example: the stench of ignorant corporate greed and personal small mindedness is hard to ignore.
Well, LinuxTECH Uruguay may be evil for all I know, but... they sure don't smell bad. They come across like one of us. Their site design is nice and clean and quick. The biggest giveaway is their huge collection of links - the bad guys don't link outside their own site in case you might reach another side of the story. Their news page even includes a link to a Slashdot story - and often refers to GNU/Linux.
I'm just convinced that these people are on our side. I hope this can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction soon.
--
Xenu loves you!
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So let me get this straight... geeks in general don't like lawyers, the legal system, ad nauseum, preferring to code instead. But while most NORMAL people could care less about another trademark battle, the geeks are out on jihad because somebody in a country I never even heard of is trying to trademark an operating system that the average person still doesn't even know about! I think the more obscure it is, the more geeks like to talk about it... =)
Try http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?d oit=done&urltext=http: //www.linux.com.uy/&lp=es_en.
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
O sea, cállese el hocico, idiota ingrato!
Sure, they can go right ahead and try to trademark the name.
/. occasionally if not daily. The Uruguayan company has now lost a huge chunk of their market who will never want anything to do with them because of their animosity towards the Linux community.
Know what? They may even win. But to what avail? All serious Linux users will avoid them like the plague. This is very similar to the LinuxOne claim, except LinuxOne has a vast market of people who can't tell the difference and haven't hear all the bad pr surrounding them (or so they claim). On the other hand, this company is reselling a standardized distribution aimed at the existing Linux market, so they need all the good press they can get. In the Linux market, most of the purchases are made by technically educated people who probably read
void recursion (void)
{
recursion();
}
while(1) printf ("infinite loop");
if (true) printf ("Stupid sig quote");
Friends don't let friends misuse the subjunctive.
However, when the case was finally heard, the Music TV people won.
So I guess even if some rogue company tries to trademark Linux in Sri Lanka, the international trademark will prevail.
I'll check on this and write a letter to my friends in LUG to, if possible, obtain a registration on behalf of Linus.
Not being a very big Law fanatic, especially not an Uruguayan law fanatic what I would like to know is what, if any impact this would have outside of Uruguay? Would this impact the Linux Community in such a way that at some point if these ppl are not stopped that it could hinder sales of or use of the Linux name internationally? I'm not saying lets just leave Uruguay hanging on it's own rope by any means. Personally I feel that there's not much to get all stirred up about. Now if this company started actually trying to oust the ULUG from their domains I'd expect to see full community support and also quite a large stir over the issue.
But are we really looking into this all too far. There is one other patent pending on the Linux name that I know of by a laundry detergent company, yet there wasn't a large outcry about this. I think maybe this hits closer to home since they are trying to patent it on the Computer Industry level rather then on a level that is completely non-related. Suse can let this company have the exclusive right if they want so long as they provide the src for any GPL'd software within their distro as far as I know. I could be wrong.
In the end I think they will either be denied or it just won't really matter. I'm sure this has been done in some other country by now. After all, now there are Win98 Cigarettes, but we didn't raise a stink about that. I know I got a good laugh about it.
Trying to be different, just like everyone else.
IMPERATIVE: .org site, spend the $$ to register your .com and .net domains.
If you run a linux
Why? Because we aren't going to move linux further into the mainstream without marketing ourselves successfully to at least some degree, and all the Joe Users out there that can only type .com are going to end up at some other moron's site, not yours.
We have to be sneakier than the other team, and grab domains first, as well as other pre-emptive marketing strikes. As for patents, I have no idea how to be proactive there. Lawyers speak up please!
Windows is a registered trademark, at least in the US, probably in every country with a trademark office (and MS is busy setting up the trademark offices for the rest of the world, I'm sure).
I would guess that the reasoning is that even though "Windows" is a common term, it isn't a common term referring to computer software. You probably couldn't trademark "Operating System" as the name for your OS, or "Windows" as the name of your glass company, or Apple as the name of your fruit distribution company, but Apple as the name of a computer company is fine.
Area of business is a key point in trademark disputes. Apple Corps (Apple Core?) sued Apple Computer for using the name Apple in relation to some sort of music software, because they are a music company. If I start, for example, Penguin Software, Penguin Books wouldn't have a claim against me for trademark infringment. If I planned on starting up a computer press after the company was larger, Penguin would be a bad choice for a name, because then Penguin books would have a claim against me, and I wouldn't be able to use "Penguin" in relation to books. (yes, there is a bookshelf next to this computer.)
If you mean the way Kleenex and Xerox are tryign to avoid being diluted, I don't think this would apply to Linux, unless people started using Linux to refer to, e.g. freebsd. Linux is definitely trademarkable, in my opinion, but it shouldn't be granted to LinuxTech in Uruguay, because it isn't *their* trademark.
--Kevin
But, what I do know is that trademark registration, while useful, isn't as powerful as you might think. In fact, even if these guys get Linux trademarked in Uruguay, I'd go so far as to say they could still get beaten in court if they tried to block sale/distribution of the Linux OS.
A trademark is protected even if it isn't registered, as long as it has the (tm) symbol on it. Registration simply provides a means by which one can publicly declare their claim over a trademark. This way, if someone else tries to use this trademark and pleads ignorance, you can simply say that they should have looked at the public TM database and are therefore in the wrong.
Now, if LinuxTECH had come up with the name Linux on their own, and registered it for trademark in their country, then they'd probably retain trademark rights to 'Linux' if it went to court. But, in this case I'm sure it would be VERY simple to prove that these guys previously saw the Linux name, marked as a (tm), and willfully chose to duplicate and try to register it. If it can be proved that they saw Linux used as a trademark in their country, and yet willfully used the name in violation of those declared IP rights, then they should be found to have no rights over the Linux TM.
This is all assuming that they even try to claim control over the TM and block the sale/dist of Linux at all - if not, then no one has to really care. But if they do, the only hard part would be proving that they saw 'Linux' used as a trademark in their country by someone else already. And if they were reselling distributions of Linux beforehand, it shouldn't be too hard to prove that they've had at least that much contact with Linux previously. :)
You know what to do with the HELLO. ...
Help create an open-source world
This may indeed be an evil company, but the open letter just confuses things and makes some pretty dubious points IMHO. Some of this confusion might come from the English translation though.
1. The first point seems pretty unique to Uruguay, and I don't really understand it. How did they get exclusive representation to SusE? Through the gov't, or through SusE??
2. (they copied a "well known" swiss company's name)
I've honestly never heard of the Swiss LinuxTech before. And I don't really see a problem with a Uruguayan company having the same name as a Swiss company.
3. (the name "LinuxTECH" contains "Linux")
I see nothing wrong with the name LinuxTECH. That's just a silly complaint. Lots of company names contain the name Linux or even Windows. For example "Linux Today", "Linux Journal", etc. And notice how complaints about this totally contradict the previous point.
4. (they registered www.linux.com.uy, even though linux.org.uy existed).
The same linux.org vs. linux.com exists in the root domain, and nobody cares. If I were starting a company down there, I'd certainly gobble up that domain.
They Uruguayan users group might have some real complaints, but their open letter doesn't help their argument any. OTOH, LinuxTECH could easily just be a decent company who somehow pissed off a few members of a small users group. There's really no way to tell from this info.
Also, trademarking "Linux" in a small country isn't evil in itself; they might just be protecting themselves against somebody else doing the same thing. It all depends on how they use it.
Anyway, the link:
http://www.adeco.com/general_info.htm
Check out either the Trademarks link or the Acrobat file titled 'Intellectual Property Overview'.
You know what to do with the HELLO. ...
Help create an open-source world
We at SuSE are concerned about the Linux name issues worldwide. SuSE even works together with Linus Torvalds to mantain the rights of the name Linux. Therefore we will talk to the Uruguayan reseller and find a solution for this issue.
The open letter sounds very agressive and desperate. Please don't forget: A "reseller" buys software packages and re-sells them. And that's it.
Regards,
James S
SuSE Linux Ltd.
-- James