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SSC Trademark Threats vs LinuxGazette.net
Zelligar writes "You may want to check into the brewing trademark issues between SSC/linuxgazette.com and the linuxgazette.net people - linuxgazette is a volunteer gazette, hosted by SSC for a while, and now SSC is taking it over - and threatening trademark litigation to boot!
Here is one story and another on the subject."
Who owns the trademark?
Is it a valid trademark?
If the volunteer organization used the name linuxgazette before it was registered by SSC, it is likely not a valid trademark.
I love to see litigation happy companies lose and come out behind.
The Word Wresting Federation against the World Wildlife Fund was fun.
See http://linuxgazette.net/ for the traditional Linux Gazette. Ah, feel at home? Good.
http://linuxgazette.net/issue96/reborn.html is part of their side of the story.
Personally, I think the CMS site sucks and goes against the spirit of what Linux Gazette has been for years.
Anything is possible given time and money.
But what if it was not a copycat site but a site made by some of the people who who ran the first site?
This is about a volunteer project, and the projecst has split. Who is to say which of the two groups can keep the name and which cannot?
Sebastian
They're not required by law to proactively defend an invalid trademark. I'd say any "trademark" with the word "Linux" in it not owned by Linus Torvalds has a shaky foundation. It's not like I can trademark "Pepsi News" or "McDonald's Customers".
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Does Microsoft own the trademark on NT magazine?
NT Magazine
SSC never owned the LG, and they have been removing at least one copyright. Essentially they were providing hosting. I would compare this to something being hosted on sourceforge.net, and then when you tell sf that you are moving away because you don't like something which conflicts with your ideas about the project, sf registers a trademark and becomes a legal jerk.
I seriously doubt the above (sourceforge) group would do that, but it appears to have happened with SSC.
I would be shocked and surprised if a hosting company could acquire trademark rights to a web site merely by hosting the web site. If this were so then Rackspace.com would find itself right now in possession of a very large number of trademark rights. Now I agree that SSC provided free hosting instead of paid hosting, but I fail to see how the fact that SSC provided its hosting for free changes anything.
Likewise, although I realize SSC has contributed much effort to LG since SSC got involved with LG, I do not see these contributions establishing any trademark rights either. After all, *I* have contributed to LG before as well, and you don't see me going around asserting that I have trademark rights to LG.
SSC should do the right thing and admit that it has no trademark rights to the name LG, relinquish the linuxgazette.com domain to the founders of LG, and publish their CMS under some other name. It is clear to me that LG is not a CMS, never has been a CMS, and that SSC is going to have a very difficult time arguing that the CMS is truer to the LG name than the rival publication.
I should also point out that even if SSC somehow manages to win a legal case and keep the LG name, it will be blackballed by a sizable fraction (possibly even the majority) of the linux community, who, like me, view the founding volunteers of LG as the true keepers of the LG torch.
who *legally* has the right to the "Linux Gazette" name seems controversial at the very least. that being the case this is how i would approach resolving the situation.
if i were the Answer Gang i would offer SSC the option of having the Linux Gazette name in exchange for a prominent announcement (on the front page of linuxgazette.com) that due to a disagreement some of the contributors have created a new zine at linuxwhatever.???.
this would allow the readers to choose what to read.
if SSC doesn't agree to this i might persist in asserting ownership of the Linux Gazette name only as long as i didn't have to put any energy into doing so. if actions from SSC resulted in legal pressure to stop using the name i would let it go instead of putting up a fight (even though i might win the fight).
i would also request support from readers to publicize the name and location of the new zine. i would encourage readers to contact other readers and linkers to the Linux Gazette and point them to the new website.
in my personal experience a name is only a pointer to something that is real. when my good friend changed her name from alexis to ocean i didn't go looking for another friend named alexis.
readers were drawn to the Linux Gazette because of the writing not because of the name. there may be a lull in readership for the Answer Gang due to a domain name change but this probably won't be for very long. it actually seems like a great opportunity for the Answer Gang to manifest something that is more in line with their visions.
if there is a burden that is incurred as the result of the domain name change i suspect that there are some readers that would love to help minimize this burden.
if you are part of the Answer Gang and are reading this i encourage you to ask yourself: will fighting to keep the Linux Gazette name bring me joy? will rebirthing our zine bring me joy?
ask yourself these questions irrespective of whether or not you think each is achievable. if you choose to fight for the Linux Gazette name ask yourself these same questions again a day or a week later. if you regularly check-in with yourselves as this name controversy unfolds you will less likely find yourselves caught up in an activity that is draining.
peace
P.S.
it isn't a surprise to me that the SSC is behaving the way it is. it is a traditional top-down hierarchical for-profit organization. it's raison d'etre is to make money (i understand that this may not have been the reason the SSC was created). if you remember this then all of their current actions make a bit more sense.