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Uruguayan SuSE Reseller Trying to Trademark Linux

Posted by Hemos on from the bad-bad-idea dept.

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. "

3 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Confused complaints by Rilke · · Score: 5

    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.

  2. Link with legal info from REAL lawyers by P_Simm · · Score: 5
    This link was given to me by the patent agent who lectured our class on IP rights, it's at the site for the company he works for and has some great summary IP info. It's a Canadian company, but from my understanding nearly all IP rights have been internationally agreed on. Even in cases where individual countries have their own jurisdiction, the rules are still the same. (Minor difference in North American patent rules vs everyone else, but that's all I know of.)

    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 ...

  3. Official SuSE Response by JamesS · · Score: 5

    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