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SSC Trademark Threats vs LinuxGazette.net

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the what-a-mess dept.

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."

5 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Trademark by nuggz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  2. And now the other side of the coin.... by RedHat+Rocky · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  3. Re:How Stupid by sapone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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

  4. Re:Come on... by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  5. Re:Does anyone care? by pantherace · · Score: 3, Interesting
    As mentioned other places, the trademark was applied for the same day the linux gazette staff sent a letter to them telling them they were moving it.

    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.