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EFF Says Mark Shuttleworth Is Wrong About Trademark
sfcrazy writes "Last week Canonical sent a cease and desist letter to EFF staffer Micah F Lee asking him to remove the word Ubuntu from the URL as well as the Ubuntu logo from the site. Lee responded through an attorney who said that Canonical's 'request were not supported by trademark laws and interferes with protected speech.' Shuttleworth apologized, though it was cheeky, and while he dubbed the Mir opponents as non-technical (hello KDE, systemD, Wayland, Intel) he also went on to explain why they needed to protect their trademark. Now there is an official response from EFF. In the blog post EFF has explained that Shuttleworth is far from reality and was totally wrong about trademark."
I think you might be confusing patent and trademark.
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
Did Microsoft order all glass companies to quit using the word "windows"? Or, to put it another way, "[citation needed]"!
I believe with trademarks context is everything. I can go to a store and buy an apple (the fruit), but if I buy an "Apple" electronic device, if it isn't made by Apple Inc (the computer company), then lawyers will be coming down hard! (There is also Apple Corps Ltd, owned by the Beatles. There have been trademark disputes between Apple Inc and Apple Corp Ltd, none of which will affect you buying apples (the fruit)),
Interestingly, the article itself said that although it believed Shuttleworth was wrong, it didn't believe he meant any malice.
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. - Blake