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Linux Trademark Domain Crackdown

Posted by Hemos on from the staving-off-squatting dept.

CgiJobs writes "SeriousDomains.com was going to try and auction off a bunch of Linux domain names. Looks like Linus Torvald's lawyers scared them off, though. I saw the domains before they yanked them and they weren't much to get excited about. Most were quite long. " So - is this a good thing? Or a bad thing?

2 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Would Linus be able to do this with LinuxOne? by FleaPlus · · Score: 5

    Is it possible for him to keep them from using "Linux" in their company name (and thus stop their quasi-bunk IPO)? If it is, is it proper for him to do so?

  2. Why this is necessary by lrund · · Score: 5
    This is probably going to be massively redundant, and many of you already know this, but I'll say it anyway. Trademark law requires that a trademark holder defend their trademark, otherwise they can lose it.

    Irrespective of that, there has been a lot of stink raised recently regarding LinuxOne. The "word on the street" (Wall Street) is that this is an operation just trying to cash in on the word "Linux" and not really offer anything except an IPO. A get-rich-quick scheme. If this goes through, it could seriously damage the credibility of "Linux" (quotes added to indicate the word and the image, separated from the actual product), and that hurts every legitimate Linux user, Linux administrator, and Linux support-and-sales company.

    Linus is doing the right thing.

    There are those who accuse people like Linus of being despots... and they're right. but Linus is a benevolent despot. And given the propensity the online community has for divisiveness and special-interests-at-the-cost-of-everybody-else, I think that's a Good Thing.