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Apple Sued Over Unix Trademark

Jerrry writes "CNET News reports The Open Group is suing Apple over unlicensed use of the Unix trademark, after Apple used the term in conjunction with its Mac OS X marketing. Apple, meanwhile, is countersuing to have the Unix trademark declared invalid because the term has become generic."

46 of 881 comments (clear)

  1. In other News... by Davak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, in other news the FGA (Fruit Growers of America) is filing suit against Apple.

    "Apple" is pretty damn generic term... get off soapbox!

    Davak

    1. Re:In other News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Oh, please create the toilet paper.

  2. Next on /. by Mr.+Sketch · · Score: 5, Funny

    SCO sues Open Group for illegal suing over the Unix trademark.

    Followed by:
    SCO sues Mr. Sketch for using the term 'Unix' in a public discussion forum without their prior permissions.

  3. I think i'll side with Apple by qortra · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have no idea who the "Open Group" is, but it sounds like they pretend to support GNU/Linux. Suing for things like the name "Unix" however seems to me to be very much against the ideals of GNU and the FSF. I'd keep a close eye on this organization; they sound like posers.

  4. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by RLiegh · · Score: 3, Funny
    Unix has become a generic term. Removing trademark status would benefit not only Apple, but the free Unixes, Linux and the BSDs.

    But it would severely hurt the GNU movement. ["it's not unix? Why isn't it unix? Does that mean it isn't free software?"]
  5. KB by sbszine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if IBM would just sue Kevin Bacon, you'd really have something there...

    --

    Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling

  6. Hoping the lawyers involved choke on their hot air by Vicegrip · · Score: 5, Funny

    The day just isn't the same without a UNIX related lawsuit.... lately I've been thinking the medieval witch test (the water drowning one) could easily find itself a new vocation in detecting corrupt lawyers.

    --
    Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
  7. "GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by EccentricAnomaly · · Score: 2, Funny

    I never liked "GNU/Linux"... it's sounds kinda hokey... but "GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it...

    You get everything, Unix and Not-Unix all rolled together :)

    --
    There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
    1. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by RLiegh · · Score: 5, Funny

      GNU's Not Unix...except on alternate tuesdays.

      I think I need an ibuprofen now!

    2. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by cruppel · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now wait, if "all things in the universe are now a part of Unix" does that make it the Unixverse?

      Keep in mind though, that this new freeness does not affect the price.

    3. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by andrewski · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, it'll have to be GNU/nix pronounced "New-nix."

    4. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by JoeBuck · · Score: 5, Funny

      If and when apple wins, GNU will stand for "GNU's Now Unix".

    5. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by Lonath · · Score: 4, Funny

      Except:

      (GNU/Unix) = ((Gnu's)(Not)(Unix))/(Unix) = (Gnu's Not) = GN. WTF is a GN?

    6. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by mcc · · Score: 4, Funny

      According to logic, this gives us all things that are Unix and are not Unix is one package. Therefore, all things in the universe are now a part of Unix, and open source.

      Young Nerd: What is UNIX?

      Old Nerd: Unfortunately, no one can be told what UNIX is... They have to see it for themselves.

    7. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by Gutboy_Barrelhouse · · Score: 2, Funny
      WTF is a GN?

      Something that gets ESR a little too excited.

    8. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      By a GNU Nut, you mean RMS? :)

      --
      ^_^
    9. Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it by Greedo · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, no, no ...

      You'll now have GNU (GNU's not Unix) and GOAT (GNU, on alternate Tuesdays).

      O'Reilly should be pleased.

      --
      Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
  8. SCO wouldn't like that by eddy · · Score: 5, Funny

    a toilet papaer brand called SCO with no trademark problems.

    Actually, that's reserved for Authentic SCO Stock(TM)

    --
    Belief is the currency of delusion.
  9. Noonix? by zogger · · Score: 2, Funny

    isn't that the operating system robin williams uses??

  10. Re:Go Apple! by Jason1729 · · Score: 2, Funny

    While we're at it, the courts should declare SCO a generic term for "silly lawsuit"

    Jason
    ProfQuotes

  11. unix is generic! by Sophrosyne · · Score: 5, Funny

    I woke up this morning and ate my Unix brand cereal, talked on the Unix for a while, and then Unixed my car to work.. How can anyone say Unix is not generic!!?
    Apple has a rock solid case, the Opengroup can go Unix themselves

  12. Jurassic Park by post_toastie · · Score: 4, Funny

    "It's a UNIX system! I know this!!!"

    Did Crichton and Spielberg pay a license for that?

    1. Re:Jurassic Park by Nexum · · Score: 5, Funny

      For years I thought that all Unix machines involved hovering around in 3D over a virtual landscape of your files and folders...

      --

      This sig has been deprecated.
  13. Lawyers by Tsugumi · · Score: 5, Funny
    Is there a special offer on suing technology firms at the moment? "Shopper, head to aisle 5, where you will find a team of lawyers armed with TLA's, right by canned goods"

    Well, I'm suing Apple, Open, SCO, IBM, all you lot, and cowboy neal's mama. Hell, I'm suing my mom too, she uses computers, I betcha she's up to no good.

  14. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny
    Good thing you posted that anonymously when using the U word. You were sure to be sued.

    It's easy to talk about UNIX® ** without being sued. Just follow a few simple guidlines, and you can put UNIX® in your posts all day long. Let's try the original post with lawsuit-resistant terminology:

    UNIX® become a generic term. Removing trademark status would benefit not only Apple, but the free UNIX®es, Linux and the BSDs.

    ** UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.

  15. Re:Unix looks generic to me by 3Bees · · Score: 4, Funny

    Be quiet or I shall be forced to say Unix to you a second time!

    --
    "I think we should tax people who stand in water! " - Mr. Gumby
  16. Re:Wow silly! by bad_fx · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear Sir/Madam

    In accordance with the notice requirements of 67 /. ÂÂ 1234(c) and 666(b), the undersigned parties, bad_fx and bad_fx, attorney(IANAL) and Slashdot reader, hereby provide notice to the you, AC, pursuant to the Slashdot no-typo Act, 58 B.S.D ÂÂ E=mc^2 et seq. , of the claim which is to be brought against you in respect of damages and injuries suffered by me as a result of the insistance of afore mentioned AC to mispell "thought."

    As a result of the AC's gross neglect, on 12 June 2003, while reading slashdot, I sustained substantial personal psychological injuries and mental damage, the particulars of which will be set forth in a Statement Claim.

    Kindly learn to type before others are hurt.

    Sincerely,

    Me

  17. Re:You just have to laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    OMG...it's like a bad geek soap opera.

    Next week: BSD gets amnesia and merges with its half-sibling Linux spawning two twin OSs, one of whom is prophesied to take over the world...one is evil, the other good...but who can tell the difference?

    Like epoch seconds through NTP server, so are the Days of our Lives...

    (For all who are confused right now, soap operas are these television programs aimed at housewives who stay home all day. They typically involve plot lines that are horribly far-fetched, filled with sex and exotic diseases...an odd combination, but I digress...and always end with some unanswered question)

  18. Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-: by leonbrooks · · Score: 5, Funny

    Judge scratches head, "you own what?"

    --
    Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
    1. Re:Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-: by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah. 'Caus EVERYBODY knows SCO owns it!

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    2. Re:Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-: by PurpleRabbit · · Score: 2, Funny


      No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

      Novell owns it.

      Right?

      [Scratches head some more.]

      --



      I'm on a whisky diet. I've lost three days already.
    3. Re:Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      "Eunechs, your honour"

  19. Re:New slogan by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Funny
    New Apple Slogan:
    "Think Sued..."

    This is to replace the existing 'Think Pseud'?

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  20. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by walt-sjc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, but without bowel movements you would be quite uncomfortable. :-)

  21. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    we can now market Windows as UNIX

    No, that would actually be fraud. Even without the trademark status.

  22. Re:UNIX: What's the first thing that comes to mind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    When someone asks you about "UNIX," what's the first thing that comes to mind?

    # rm -rf /

    among other misadventures that you just can't have on windows.

  23. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by uncoveror · · Score: 2, Funny

    How can any earth-based company claim trademark rights to an alien OS we got from the Roswell UFO? Another curious question is why Microsoft bought a license from SCO when they have already used UNIX technology for mind control.

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  24. Wednesday is by bmckeever · · Score: 4, Funny

    Help me remember:
    Monday is patch your windows server day
    Tuesday is patch your Linux box day
    Wednesday is file a Unix lawsuit day?

    --
    Your favorite .sig sucks
  25. Oh please don't by donscarletti · · Score: 3, Funny

    SCO has been getting up people's arses enough already.

    --
    When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
  26. They forgot to read old Usenet postings.. by SiW · · Score: 2, Funny

    ..otherwise they'd have seen why the term UN*X was used.

  27. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by torpor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dude. I'm having a movement right now, and frankly I'm finding it *very* Zen...

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  28. You mean the lawyer weighs the same as a duck? by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 3, Funny

    "He's an attorney! Burn him!"

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.
  29. I KNEW I'd heard this before... by jpellino · · Score: 3, Funny

    OG owns the name but not the stuff... SCO owns the stuff but not the name... Apple can't call it by its name but can use the stuff... AH! Yes! Mr. Carroll, care to comment?:

    Alice could only look puzzled: she was thinking of the pudding.
    `You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: `let me sing you a song to comfort you.'
    `Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.
    `It's long,' said the Knight, `but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else --'
    `Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
    `Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called "Haddocks' Eyes".'
    `Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel interested.
    `No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. `That's what the name is called. The name really is "The Aged Aged Man".'
    `Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called"?' Alice corrected herself.
    `No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called "Ways and Means": but that's only what it's called, you know!'
    `Well, what is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.
    `I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really is "A-sitting On a Gate": and the tune's my own invention.'

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
  30. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by Big_Monkey_Bird · · Score: 2, Funny

    1. Steal SCO code
    2. Register Patent for One Click® UNIX®
    3. Profit

    * One Click is parented technology by Amazon.com Inc
    ** UNIX is a registered trademark...yada yada yada

  31. I know why they are suing!!! by Wild+Bill+Hickock · · Score: 2, Funny

    if you go at http:\\www.opengroup.org on the left hand side of the page there is a little box that displays their sponsors. apple is not dipslayed as a sponsor !!! draw your own conclusions!!

  32. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! by Hiro+Antagonist · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...and the RIAA would be missing their greatest source for new hit music.

    --

    --
    I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy .sig.