GNOME Project Seeks Donations For Trademark Battle With Groupon

Drinking Bleach writes Groupon has released a tablet-based point of sale system called Gnome, despite the well-known desktop environment's existence and trademark status. This is also not without Groupon's internal knowledge of the GNOME project; they were contacted about the infringement and flatly refused to change the name of their own product, in addition to filing many new trademark applications for theirs. The GNOME project is seeking donations to help them in a legal battle against these trademark applications, and to get Groupon to stop using their name. They are seeking at least $80,000 to challenge a first set of ten trademark applications from Groupon, out of 28 applications that have been filed.

Comments

If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

If this were ten years ago, I would have donated my first month's paycheck. But ever since GNOME decided "We'll do what we want. We don't care about the users", I care a lot less about GNOME. Now if Groupon had come out with a tablet named XFCE, then maybe...

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

A similar story:

"The Phoenix name was kept until April 14, 2003, when it was changed because of a trademark dispute with the BIOS manufacturer, Phoenix Technologies (which produces a BIOS-based browser called Phoenix FirstWare Connect). The new name, Firebird, met with mixed reactions, particularly as the Firebird database server already carried the name. In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. Continuing pressure from the Firebird community forced another change,[1] and on February 9, 2004 the project was renamed Mozilla Firefox (or Firefox for short)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Firefox

Just because you don't agree with the desktop environment's choice doesn't mean that they are in the wrong here, or that this wouldn't have lasting implications in the open-source community. Even if you aren't using Gnome-shell, chances are very strong that you are running something requiring GStreamer or GTK 2/3 that comes from the Gnome project. Open-source products have been bullied in the past (see the Firefox example above, or $4/device to Microsoft for their "development" of Android) by well-funded campaigns that seek to ride the coattails of a community-oriented product for their own profit. Dozens of community sites, Gnome-look.org, Worldofgnome.org, etc. and system libraries stand to lose of Groupon presses their trademark.

This is an assault on open-source software, and regardless of what you feel about the direction that Gnome is taking, it the project is still very relevant and this action should not be tolerated. It's okay to debate among the community about the direction of the project, but the community needs to have clear resolve to combat outside threats to its right to exist.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you realize that XFCE uses Gtk+ and a host of other software developed by GNOME?

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if we were being informed on the history of GTK we would know that GTK was developed by The GIMP so they could have a pretty GUI for their nice image manipulation software, then Gnome happend to like that GIMP Tool Kit and used it to create Gnome, but whatever floats your boat.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[peppepz]

GNOME doesn't want you to use GTK+ any more for non-GNOME development.

https://mail.gnome.org/archive...

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Eunuchswear]

That is exactly not what that message says. He starts:

Important disclaimer: I am now stating the de-facto situation, not the
situation I wish for.

and continues:

GTK 3 at this point really is just the GNOME toolkit. There is absolutely zero
involvement from anyone else.

He's complaining that nobody else helps develop GTK, not saying that GNOME doesn't want other people to use GTK.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[juanfgs]

No, what they are saying is that they are the major contributors, which is actually true. So GTK is catering more and more to THEIR needs. Of course, this being Slashdot we should force their developers do things that WE like, despite us not contributing a single line of code.

I disagree with many of the design principles of the new gnome, but they are not obligated to focus their resources on a path that they don't want to follow. I don't see anyone giving shit to the people at Englihtenment desktop for writing a toolkit (EFL) that looks foreign on any other desktop environment.

Open source used to be about scratching your own itch, not forcing other people to solve your problems. If XFCE/LXDE likes GTK 3 but not in the way gnome devs want, publish patches to GTK3 allowing their code. If their patches are rejected, then we can really talk of gnome devs being a little dickish, but still the solution in that case is forking.

Then again, is easier to complain on the internet than to actually contribute code.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[peppepz]

Which is why at this point in time I'd advocate against Mozilla, Libreoffice, XFCE or LXDE to switch to GTK 3. They value their independence from GNOME too much.

What's the difference between "I advocate against projects that value their independence from GNOME to use GTK 3" and "I don't want you to use GTK 3 outside of GNOME"?

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

GTK? Oh, you mean Gadget Toolkit from Amiga OS?

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[peppepz]

No,

No? From the message:

at this point in time I'd advocate against Mozilla, Libreoffice, XFCE or LXDE to switch to GTK 3. They value their independence from GNOME too much.

My comment didn't contain any statement of value about GTK3 or GNOME, so I can't understand the rest of your message about being dickish, lazy, Enlightenment looking bad, me forcing other people to solve my problems, and so on. Perhaps you're talking in general about the attitude you perceive here on slashdot towards GNOME 3, but then if you do that in reply to a message of mine, you make it look like I said any of the stuff you're talking about. Which is not the case.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anrego]

Yeah, this is pretty much the worst project for this to happen to. Gnome is pretty much the poster child for what's wrong with open source these days.

At the very least it's groupon on the other side, who I for whatever reason hate more. I'm not even sure what it is with them, their advertising and corporate vibe just really rub me the wrong way.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[sensei moreh]

Actually, LXDE likes Qt so much they're moving forward with LXQt.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[nadaou]

Hear hear. If one of the biggest and best known names in the FOSS world can't defend themselves from something so blatant it just encourages other big corporations from abusing smaller groups.

Red hat, we're looking at you to step up here.

The Systemd and GNOME3 toxic manouvers are irrelevant.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Eunuchswear]

Which is why at this point in time I'd advocate against Mozilla, Libreoffice, XFCE or LXDE to switch to GTK 3. They value their independence from GNOME too much.

What's the difference between "I advocate against projects that value their independence from GNOME to use GTK 3" and "I don't want you to use GTK 3 outside of GNOME"?

Gently reminding people that depending on GTK3 (without participating in GTK3 developpment) means depending on GNOME isn't the same thing as saying "dont use GTK3".

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but GNOME took it over.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[xiando]

This: https://trac.transmissionbt.co... and similar behavior is why I will not contribute a satoshi to GNOME regardless of what I think about this specific issue. If they want to shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their now joke of a desktop then fine, that is up to them. Going around asking other projects to remove features to make them "fit in" with their garbage .. that's just taking it too far. Removing features from GTK and making it clear that all those hours writing software based on it was a huge waste of time also makes it very hard to support GNOME a very hard sell.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

I do. I also enjoy my wheel from 4000 BC. If it ain't broke...

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[fnj]

There is no evidence whatever that LXQt is getting any traction. The project labored mightily, churned out a pre-release, and ground to a stalemate. In the process it killed Razor Qt. Meanwhile the main LXDE site barely mentions it at all and there is no indication that LXQr will ever supplant it.

It would be unkind to say that LXQt is lightweight in more ways than one. But would it be wrong? I would love to be found to be mistaken, but don't expect to be.

I am hoping Lumina Desktop will be the serious contender, but the word is hope, not expect.

It is a shame that Qt, which is so vastly superior to GTK, still has no noticeable presence on the desktop aside from KDE, which many find to be grossly overblown and under delivering with the basics.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[sensei moreh]

Personally, as someone who doesn't have the latest and greatest in terms of CPU horsepower in my desktop PC, I like the idea of a lightweight desktop, and my current favorite in this regard is LXDE. I'm hopeful regarding LXQt http://lxqt.org/ but I'm not holding my breath. My ideal DE would use the same toolkit as the graphical apps I use (file manager, web browser, IM client, terminal, text editor, word processor, spreadsheet, graphical ftp client, image editor, image viewer, package manager, pdf viewer, media player, CD/DVD burner), but not bring in a whole lot of extra crap I don't want. Mixing Gtk2 and Gtk3 apps is as bad as mixing Gtk and Qt as far as I'm concerned.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[jedidiah]

That's not the point. This is a "circle the wagons" moment. It doesn't matter if you like them or even think they are being as anti-Unix as possible (Poettering). This needs to be defended against with as much fury as the community can muster.

Time to put your money where your mouths are all you screeching basement dwellers.

I have. Now it's your turn.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Anonymous Coward]

And won't give it back to anyone. It's their toy now, everyone else can't play if GNOME isn't playing the leader.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[exomondo]

Going around asking other projects to remove features to make them "fit in" with their garbage .. that's just taking it too far.

I could understand if they were forcing it or something but you really find it "going to far" to ask other projects to be coherent with what they do?

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[kthreadd]

Maybe you should actually take a look at the GTK+ git history. There's a ton of work going into cross-platform support. Recently a lot of work was directed at Adwaita and make sure that it is always included and works great on all gdk backends, especially the win32 backend.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[N1AK]

Surely that's a pretty puerile way to judge whether to support a cause or not? Personally I think the GNOME team's case is pretty tenuous. An open source organisation, of all organisations, should not be over-reaching in using trademark or copyright protections. I expect a large majority of people interested in the Gnome PoS software will not of heard of GNOME, the ones who have will know enough not to be confused by it. It doesn't seem that Groupon is trying to trade on GNOMEs good reputation, or that GNOME will be disadvantaged by the existence of a tablet app called Gnome so although I have little love for Groupon I would wish to support over-aggressive defence of trademark by GNOME even less.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[IRWolfie-]

"I expect a large majority of people interested in the Gnome PoS software will not of heard of GNOME, the ones who have will know enough not to be confused by it." Why are you so certain? If someone had told me it uses gnome, i would have assumed it was from GNOME. KDE, XFCE users have heard of GNOME but they don't use it, so they wouldn't know what they interface should be like exactly, especially on a POS device, and it would be, I assume, going to be tech people making the POS acquisitions.

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[Sri Ramkrishna]

Thanks, jedidiah!

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[startling]

I haven't logged into /. in years (although I frequently lurk) but your comment made me search out my password and login in case, by some miracle, I had any mod points to vote your comment up (no points though, naturally).

Re:If this were ten years ago, I would have

[graphius]

so does Gnome run on gnome?
Seriously, does this new point of sale system run on Linux?

Re: If this were ten years ago, I would have

[lems1]

And your qualifications for telling me what not to do are...?

Gtk3 is a fine, general purpose, toolkit that helps you solve a plethora of problems quickly. In addition, Gtk3 is used extensively behind corporate environments' doors to deliver good quality software for its users.

Thanks for the advise but I reserve the right to make my own choices.

How about a Linux windowing system...

[DiamondGeezer]

...called Groupon

Groupon Window System will take the best of windowing system technologies, mix it all up in a big bit bucket, and then start a flamewar followed by a schism. Just like all of the others.

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless Gnome is selling PoS systems, how would this infringe their trademark?

Re:Huh?

[Wycliffe]

Unless Gnome is selling PoS systems, how would this infringe their trademark?

I agree that if it was in a different domain they might not have a very strong case but a PoS is basically a simplified
GUI so I think there is a very strong case that there could be potential confusion between a computer running gnome desktop
and a computer running gnome PoS. I have no idea why groupon would want that confusion unless they think they
can steal some of gnome desktop's reputation.

Re:Huh?

[jandersen]

Any way, it shouldn't be a problem; they could just use a translation of the word 'Gnome' - for example, in Swedish: Nissan. Problem solved.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Groupon's SEO Ekssp3rt suggested that "Gnome POS" has so many google results that it makes their product look popular.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Gnome" in Swedish would rather be just "gnom", or perhaps "tomte". One could think of using "nisse", with the underlying implication of "tomtenisse", but it would in practice only be applied to the "Santa's elves"-kind of small characters.

"Nissan" is however the name of one of the longer streams in Sweden, and for that reason I in my childhood for a while assumed that the cars that Leif "Loket" Olsson gave away on Bingolotto came from Sweden.

Take it from an "Andersson" :-) .

Re:Huh?

[dex22]

Gnome's trademark includes software services involving databases and spreadsheets. How does a point of sale system work if it doesn't have some kind of database or spreadsheet to track sales, stock, etc? Further, Gnome's trademark covers software consulting. Are you suggesting Groupon would not consult with buyers of their PoS about configuration, ideal settings, etc?

Re:Huh?

[dotancohen]

Any way, it shouldn't be a problem; they could just use a translation of the word 'Gnome' - for example, in Swedish: Nissan. Problem solved.

Uzi Nissan might have an issue with the use of his name:
http://nissan.com/

Re:Huh?

[jandersen]

On the other hand, it is such a plausible lie, don't you agree? ;-)

Why feed the lawyers?

[Brian Kendig]

One is a desktop environment. The other is a tablet-based point of sale system. Who's going to confuse the two? "I wanted to install GNOME on my laptop, but instead it's asking me if I want to redeem a coupon."

Is GNOME going to challenge anyone who calls anything a gnome?

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Thanshin]

Is GNOME going to challenge anyone who calls anything a gnome?

You mean the desktop environment? Or the tablet-based point of sale system.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Brian Kendig]

These days, is there anything that's NOT on a computer?

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Anonymous Coward]

GNOME (the desktop environment) has been used as the point-of-sale operating system on cash registers at Lowe's Home Improvement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowe%27s) since the early 2000's. You can still walk around their stores and see Gnome 1.x with Enlightenment as its window manager on their _cash registers_ in 2014. That alone should be grounds for the GNOME Project's case.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Livius]

One is a desktop environment. The other is a tablet-based point of sale system.

A Slashdot audience may understand, but I think you are massively overestimating how obvious the distinction would be to the general public. It will be about as clear as GNU versus Linux.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[bws111]

Huh? What does that have to do with anything? Was GNOME marketing Lowes POS system under the name GNOME? No. Someone just happened to use the GNOME desktop manager to make a POS system (not called GNOME).

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Oligonicella]

And the general public is pretty much oblivious to Gnome, unlike the /. population. To paraphrase what people around here are fond of frequently stating, Gnome should be glad for the advertising they get from people searching for a POS system.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[fibonacci8]

How about a point of sale system called Metro, or Luna?

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[skids]

Heh. I see what you did there.

In all seriousness, were GNOME-the-desktop to have some major security incident and it affects the viability of GNOME-the-PoS with potential customers by associating the brand with security problems in search engine results, someone will start to appreciate the merit of avoiding name collisions.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[Anonymous Coward]

It simply shows that Gnome had some sort of presence in the specific POS environment. Whether they market or not isn't really the issue. The issue is whether a distracted idiot would know the difference between Gnome UI that is sometimes used on a POS, and Groupon POS.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[PhilHibbs]

If they called it "Windows", do you think they would last a nanosecond before the orbital lawyers opened fire?

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[firewrought]

Huh? What does that have to do with anything? Was GNOME marketing Lowes POS system under the name GNOME? No. Someone just happened to use the GNOME desktop manager to make a POS system (not called GNOME).

For all we know, Lowe's (or a software vendor contracted by Lowes) may have marketed (or may choose in the future to market) their POS to other parties as a GNOME-based product. It wouldn't be the product name, but it could be trumpeted in the feature listing. For that matter, the GNOME project may reasonably identify an opportunity to produce a POS-specific version of their product and want to call it "GNOME-POS" or something.

The Lowe's example definitely shows the overlapping and competing uses of the name: your average moron in a hurry isn't going to know the difference between a POS named "Gnome" and a Desktop Environment called "GNOME" that can be used to construct POS systems.

Boss: "Should we buy Gnome for our POS?"

Employee: "No, we should use GNOME for our POS."

Boss: "WTF??"

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[gringer]

You're confusing patent law with trademark law. Prior art is not particularly important for trademarks.

Re:Why feed the lawyers?

[perryizgr8]

I don't think Microsoft is half of what they used to be 10 years ago. They would try to fight it, but I guess Groupon wouldn't back down.

IANL

[jmitchel!jmitchel.co]

I'm not a lawyer, but a POS and a desktop environment don't seem like overlapping categories for Trademark purposes.

Re:IANL

[havana9]

Some peple think that Gnome 3 is a fuming POS and say that Gnome 2 was way better tha the newer versions.

Re:IANL

[Lilith's Heart-shape]

If they want MATE, they know where to find it.

Re:IANL

[Wycliffe]

I'm not a lawyer, but a POS and a desktop environment don't seem like overlapping categories for Trademark purposes.

How do you figure? They are both the frontend GUI, window manager, and most visible portion of the environment.
If you asked an uninformed newbie what OS they were running on either system the most likely answer would be "gnome"
though neither "gnome desktop" nor "gnome PoS" are operating systems when a normal thinks of an operating system
they think of the window and gui management system. Yes, gnome is a full fledged desktop environment but that's like
saying I can market bottled water under the name "coca cola" because water isn't a soda. They are both still beverages.
Likewise, "gnome Pos" and "gnome desktop" are both "frontend gui and window managers for the underlying OS"

Re:IANL

[Dcnjoe60]

One must protect their trademark or risk losing it. That is why we now have Jello brand gelatin and Band-Aids brand bandages. Apple Computer successfully defended it's trademark against Apple Records which was founded by the Beatles and those two categories were a lot further apart than Gnome the desktop environment, GnomeOS (put out by the Gnome foundation) and Gnome the point of sale operating system.

Re:IANL

[eclectro]

The GNOME desktop guys need to stop acting like they own the word "gnome".

Said the poster quoting executives inside Groupon!

As far as operating systems are concerned, they do in fact "own" the word "gnome." That is by definition of what a trademark is.

The gnome foundation does have a right to be concerned. With an point of sale system that offers a "gnome" operating environment, end users could easily confuse the two. And it seriously could affect the Gnome Foundation's ability to conduct any business in the future as their mark would be seriously diluted.

What is also disturbing is the hubris behind this. Clearly Groupon thought that they could steamroll over the Gnome Foundation!

I am not a user of gnome, and I know that developers and users have had disagreements with Gnome in the past, but that doesn't mean that users of open source software shouldn't stand behind the Gnome Foundation on this issue. As they have made significant contributions to GPL code and promoting open source software. This really is a no-brainer.

Re: IANL

[wile_e_wonka]

And neither Apple (the music company) nor Apple (the computer company) was able to prevent the other from using the name, even after the computer company dove into the music world (though they settled that without a trial). "General Motors" is a unique and specific enough combination of words (e.g., it isn't such a great name for a software company), that I don't think they could easily be used by another company in a nonconfusing way.

I just don't see confusion with GNOME as a likely outcome of allowing Groupon to name its tablet Gnome. Trademark doesn't give the holder the uninhibited right to use a word. It just gives the holder the rights to a word in a specific realm.

Re: IANL

[jmitchel!jmitchel.co]

Yes, but you get a trademark for a specific set of business activities, like gelatin snacks, tires, or desktop software, not for every possible use of a word.

Re:IANL

[Anonymous Coward]

GNOME: Desktop Environment recently focused on a GUI optimized for touch/tablet interfaces.
Gnome: Point Of Sale running on a tablet with customized GUI.

Two different GUI's running on a tablet with the same name. That's overlapping to me.

Re:IANL

[Oligonicella]

"As far as operating systems are concerned," Gnome isn't one. Read the first paragraph and then its first clarifying link. And, as far as POS systems, they don't "own" jack.

Re: IANL

[Dcnjoe60]

But you must still defend your mark and Gnome the open source project desktop environment and also GnomeOS the operating system are pretty similar sounding to the GNOME point of sale system which includes the GNOME operating system per the article. While most of us could see that Apple Records and Apple Computer were two unrelated things, the courts found Apple Records to infringe on Apple Computer's mark. Likewise, McDonalds has fought very hard to protect its mark and also to expand it. Or, when Starwars first came out, it was a book and a movie. Now, it includes all sorts of merchandise that is anything but the book and movie. Ford could not come out and advertize a Darth Vader F-150 without getting into trouble, even though a pickup has nothing to do with the franchise.

Groupon is advertising an open source software project called GNOME that is an operating system for a point of sale system, that runs on a tablet. It is conceivable that Gnome Foundation will also wave a version of their Desktop environment that runs on a tablet or could be the foundation for somebody else's point of sale system. As such, Gnome Foundation is well within their rights to protect their mark and actually if they failed to do so, could lose their mark.

I'm pretty sure if Groupon named their POS system WINDOWS, nobody would bat an eye at Microsoft defending their mark, even though Microsoft's desktop environment is not the same thing as a point of sale system.

With trademarks, one must defend them or lose them.

Re: IANL

[bill_mcgonigle]

The GNOME guys have worked hard to ensure that their UI is only useful on tablets. Now along comes Groupon (aka the Hindu god of small business destruction) wanting to put out a tablet by the same name.

Based upon my twenty years experience with linux desktops, I can safely say that GNOME is no longer useful as a desktop environment and is exclusively focused on tablets now. They can show this post to their judge as my contribution.

Re: IANL

[whoever57]

And neither Apple (the music company) nor Apple (the computer company) was able to prevent the other from using the name, even after the computer company dove into the music world (though they settled that without a trial)

There was a settlement between the companies about the use fo the name long before Apple Computer went into the music business.

Re: IANL

[Holi]

>the courts found Apple Records to infringe on Apple Computer's mark

You have that backwards. It was Apple Corps (the Beatles) who sued. Apple Corp was never found to be the infringing party.

Re: IANL

[Dcnjoe60]

>the courts found Apple Records to infringe on Apple Computer's mark

You have that backwards. It was Apple Corps (the Beatles) who sued. Apple Corp was never found to be the infringing party.

You are correct, that's what happens when you don't actually review after hitting the preview button! :)

Re: IANL

[powerlord]

and part of the settlement was that Apple Computer Corp agreed to stay out of the Music business ... until a bunch of years later when they renegotiated.

Re:IANL

[eclectro]

The end user would see it as part of an operating system - which it does become. All I'm seeing here on Slashdot is what must be a bunch of Groupon employees trolling Slashdot trying to defend their company. But they will lose this trademark case.

Re:IANL

[ihtoit]

to the average user, my OS is Windows 7.

Technically, Windows 7 is my desktop environment. The KERNEL is NT. I could conceivably run KDE on NT (though why I'd want to is anyone's guess) and to Average User, I'd be running Linux. YOU CAN'T TELL BY LOOKING AT THE UI, you have to query the kernel itself.
GNU/Linux is your KERNEL. Gnome/KDE/XFCE/IceWM is your DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT.

Re:IANL

[Wycliffe]

That's kindof my point. "gnome desktop" and "gnome pos" would both be your "desktop environment" aka "GUI"
It's pretty hard to argue that a graphical POS doesn't fit the definition of a GUI. It's graphical and it's the user's interface.

Re:IANL

[ihtoit]

follow the argument: as common traits, Gnome the X client and Gnome the POS appliance, to the average user, are the same thing - particularly if, as in examples dotted around, they do the same thing (facilitate electronic transactions). Ergo, and to the Lay observer (which is essentially what a Court acting for the State represents even if they're not a party to proceedings in which case they are merely adjudicators), they are the same thing.

Am I going to email Everest with my Windows support tickets? No, because I'm smart(er than the average bear) enough to know that what I'm using was put out by a company called Microsoft who subcontract to other companies, I've almost certainly got a support system in place for such an eventuality. For Grandma who bought what she considers to be a toaster oven, a ticket to Everest is the way to go because they do windows.

The Internet is bursting with examples of support calls from people with such weird issues as windows being stuck. To Microsoft. Who have probably no idea how to unstick a fifty year old hinge.

Cue XGnome UI ticket flood to Groupon's email service in 3, 2, 1...

Re: IANL

[jmitchel!jmitchel.co]

Which may be law, given all the patents where you take something people have been doing for decades, add the words 'on a computer' and get a goldmine. Depends on the lawyers and the judge.

Re: IANL

[wile_e_wonka]

There was a settlement between the companies about the use fo the name long before Apple Computer went into the music business.

Nuh-uh

Re: IANL

[whoever57]

Er, yes. Did you even read the page you linked to? There were settlements in 1981 and 1991. What happened was that Apple Corp alleged (multiple times) that Apple Computer violated the settlements.

Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[dotancohen]

Gnome had no problem usurping the KDE term "Activities" as a synonym for "Virtual Desktops" even though KDE had been using the term to mean something else for years:
http://aseigo.blogspot.co.il/2...

The Gnome move is even more confusing than the Groupon move as the new Gnome term _replaces an existing term_ and additionally is also a UI term similar, but not quite exactly, like the KDE term. At least nobody is likely to confuse a Gnome tablet with a Gnome desktop environment.

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[Merk42]

Did KDE have a registered Trademark for "Activities"?

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[Anonymous Coward]

"Activities" isn't trademarked by KDE, and besides is a random UI concept even able to be trademarked? It's not like KDE is calling their entire DE "Activities". Now, if the Gnomers had changed their foot logo to a gear logo, I'd say there would be a reason to accuse them of trademark infringement.

And to be clear, I don't even like Gnome, nor KDE. XFCE all the way, baby! Just keep your hands off the mouse, m'kay?

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[dotancohen]

Did KDE have a registered Trademark for "Activities"?

From a legal perspective your point is made. However, from a usability perspective, Gnome has never cared about user experience and this move was one of the first to show it.

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[dotancohen]

Actually, I'm a KDE user and I hardly ever touch the mouse. I'm not even sure if it is plugged into the particular machine I'm on right now.

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[efitton]

So as KDE doesn't have a trademark that entitles Gnome to behave in an antisocial manner?

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[Merk42]

So as GNOME behaves in an antisocial manner that entitles Groupon to use their Trademark?

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[M1FCJ]

I use a trackball with KDE, you insensitive clod!

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[Blaskowicz]

I used to think it was a little dog (on the start menu's icon)

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[ihtoit]

rounded corners: Apple.

"Swipe" interface effects: Apple.

Platform scrolling: Apple.

I think Apple now holds more patents than Edison ever did.

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[dotancohen]

I meant this mouse:

http://becuo.com/xfce-mouse

You have no idea how happy I am that my misunderstanding was over a mouse-themed logo and not a cat-themed logo. My defence for "Just keep your hands off the pussy" is not appropriate for this audience.

Re:Gnome did the same thing to KDE, even worse

[efitton]

Absolutely not. My reply was only about you defending Gnome's actions because of the lack of trademark. Groupon should also behave ethically with or without a trademark. No reason to conflate the two situations. While it can be argued that the original poster conflated the situations, they did provide a link and tangential information to the topic so I will not complain too much about that.

How is their infringment?

[Lunix Nutcase]

How would this be infringement? GNOME's trademark lists only the following goods and services:

Downloadable computer software tools and libraries used for the development of other software applications; downloadable computer software development tools; downloadable computer software for creating and managing a computer desktop; downloadable computer software for use as a graphical user interface; downloadable computer software for word processing, database management, and use as a spreadsheet

None of which this tablet system falls under other since this isn't "downloadable computer software". And:

Computer software development; computer software design; computer programming for others; technical consulting services in the field of computer software; licensing of intellectual property

Nor this.

I know this will not be popular of me to say, but this looks like IP trolling.

Re:How is their infringment?

[Chrisq]

How would this be infringement? GNOME's trademark lists only the following goods and services:

Downloadable computer software tools and libraries used for the development of other software applications; downloadable computer software development tools; downloadable computer software for creating and managing a computer desktop; downloadable computer software for use as a graphical user interface; downloadable computer software for word processing, database management, and use as a spreadsheet

None of which this tablet system falls under other since this isn't "downloadable computer software". And:

Unless they are developing on the target tablet then it is...

Re:How is their infringment?

[Lunix Nutcase]

Unless they are developing on the target tablet then it is...

No one is going to be doing that and even if they were that would be a humongous stretch as their mark is clearly for desktop computers not tablets.

Re:How is their infringment?

[Desler]

Unless they are developing on the target tablet then it is...

Unless who is developing on the tablet? And how is one going to actually develop on the tablet? It's basically a fixed function device that only runs a single application. Furthermore, the act of "developing on the target tablet" does not fall under GNOME's mark's goods and services.

Re:How is their infringment?

[BarbaraHudson]

Unless they're burning the software into ROMs, it IS downloadable to the device, hence covered by the term "downloadable computer software for use as a graphical user interface ... database management", because a PoS needs to have a GUI and to interface with a database.

And even if they're developing on the target tablet, they still have to move the final image to each tablet (unless they do a make on each one individually, which I can't see them doing).

I'm not a fan of gnome since they screwed up, but they do have a valid point.

Re:How is their infringment?

[spire3661]

There is no real computing difference between a tablet and a desktop. Its all the same thing, along a scale.

Re:How is their infringment?

[Mr. Slippery]

None of which this tablet system falls under other since this isn't "downloadable computer software".

Any software that can be copied and installed over a network is "downloadable".Groupon's hardware product is a case for an iPad and I'll bet you their software is installed on those iPads over a network.

Groupon is applying for trademarks in a broad array of areas, such as "contact management software used to organize and retrieve customer contact information; electronic commerce and transaction application software that allows users to engage in electronic business transactions via a global computer network; printer software for operating printers and printing". GNOME links to the complete list here. It's a genuine problem.

Re:How is their infringment?

[bws111]

This isn't a patent. Technical details like that do not matter. What matters is how the name is used when it is marketed. If they are marketing it as 'a point of sale system', the fact that the software is downloaded is immaterial, what matters is the likelyhood of a consumer thinking that the POS system has been made by the GNOME desktop people.

Re:How is their infringment?

[GauteL]

GroupOn's software is most definitely "downloadable", since it is most certainly installed over a network (and frankly, even a data transfer over cable will probably be legally seen as a "download"). An iPad is also certainly a "computer". The GroupOn software also most definitely is used as a "Graphical user interface". So there now exists a second downloadable computer GUI software called "Gnome" which is also being agressively trademarked by GroupOn.

What happens when GNOME the desktop environment eventually runs on a tablet (which is entirely possible)? If GNOME hasn't successfully defended their trademark against GroupOn, it is not at all implausible to envision GroupOn suing GNU for using the GNOME name, which they had much longer than GroupOn, but just not used on a tablet.

I doubt that you would get away with registering trademarks for POS software called "Windows" or "Excel".

Re:How is their infringment?

[jdavidb]

The problem I see is that if Gnome doesn't defend their trademark, one day Groupon may come around and sue Gnome for their pre-existing non-infringing use of the same name for a different product - and there's a chance they could win. If I understand correctly, going on the record now trying to defend the trademark reduces the possibility that Groupon could win if they were to turn the tables and sue Gnome in a few years.

Re:How is their infringment?

[BarbaraHudson]

The TRADEMARK is for downloadable software. So, no patent discussion necessary.

Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damages?

[ad454]

I don't understand. It seems that there is a clear-cut case for GNOME, that should guarantee victory.

How come in the USA with its huge surplus of lawyers, they aren't some willing to take the case for free, in exchange for a percentage of damages against a publicly traded company like GroupOn? I am surprised that a publicly traded company would take such a risk which could diminish shareholder value.

Or it only scumbags like SCO/Novel which are allowed to sue?

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[Lunix Nutcase]

It seems that there is a clear-cut case for GNOME, that should guarantee victory.

In what way is it "clear-cut"? Their trademark registration does not involve goods and services that involve either tablets or PoS systems.

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gnome is certainly a PoS.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[jratcliffe]

How come in the USA with its huge surplus of lawyers, they aren't some willing to take the case for free, in exchange for a percentage of damages against a publicly traded company like GroupOn?

Because, if GNOME prevails, there wouldn't be damages, just the rejection of Groupon's trademark applications.

Priorities

[Livius]

So.... now they suddenly care about their users.

Re:Priorities

[carnivore302]

No, because they want 80K from their users, in exchange for somebody else not naming it's product gnome. It's up to everybody individually to do with his money as he pleases, but this scores high on the don't-even-consider list for me.

Re:Priorities

[ihtoit]

I'd like to get Pamela Jones' input on this one...

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[AlecC]

It may seem clear cut to you, but it does not seem so to me nor several other contributors.

A Trademark does not provide a universal protection for the word, only within a limited, named, commercial field. Sun Oil and Sun Computers co-existed using the name Sun. Gnome has trademarked the word for software and seoftware related services. Groupon's tablet is not software. No overlap.

Does Groupon know what it is taking on?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Wonder what would happen if some company like Groupon pisses off dedicated open source developers who had been passionately contributing to the Gnome project? Even if just a few of them decide to use their software skills against Groupon and its questionable business products, they would suffer greatly. Nothing illegal, a little google bombing, a little bit of SEO to make Groupon drop out of safe searches and first hits, they can cause a lot of damage to Groupon.

Re:Does Groupon know what it is taking on?

[Anonymous Coward]

You could cause a lot of damage to Groupon personally. If their board of directors read your post they might all die laughing.

Re:Does Groupon know what it is taking on?

[stox]

At least one Gnome committer works for Groupon Engineering.

There is also...

[dosius]

There's also that *x for the Apple IIgs, GNO/ME... (where GNO is a recursive acronym for Gno's Not Orca... sound familiar?)

-uso.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[skovnymfe]

Those kinds of lawsuits require money not being made. No one is not making money here. GNOME isn't not making money off of Groupons tablet being called Gnome. GNOME just wants to keep their name to themselves. Which is hard to achieve these days, because there are only so many words in the dictionary. So the short version is Groupon says they can use Gnome, and have filed documents with the trademark people saying they want to, but GNOME says Groupon can't use Gnome, because GNOME already filed papers with the trademark people long ago. Thing is though that GNOME filed different papers than Groupon is now filing, so GNOME might not have a case, but that's why they want money so they can attack attack ATTACK! and keep their name for themselves.

GNOME is the mascot for Travelocity ...

[CaptainDork]

... I saw that on Amazing Race way before I saw this article.

I think we know who has dibs on GNOME.

Trademark breadth

[tepples]

Trademarks are usually valid within a specific field of use. But the more famous the mark becomes, the broader the judge will construe exclusivity. For example, something like "COCA-COLA" is so famous that Coke's lawyers will have no trouble making a prima facie case for dilution if the mark is used for any other product. Mozilla had to rename Firebird to Firefox even though database software and web browser software aren't exactly the same field. But whether the "GNOME" mark applies to useful computer software in general or to GUI frameworks in particular is for a judge to decide after the GNOME project's counsel presents its case.

Re:Trademark breadth

[spire3661]

What is interesting is that the more powerful the mark, the less protection it should be afforded... Your Coke example should be the exact opposite way things work. If the mark is so strong that it bleeds into other categories, then you dont need government protection for it.

Re:Trademark breadth

[Lunix Nutcase]

Trademarks are usually valid within a specific field of use.

Yes, and the mark's specified goods and services don't overlap with this PoS system.

But the more famous the mark becomes, the broader the judge will construe exclusivity.

GNOME isn't that famous.

For example, something like "COCA-COLA" is so famous that Coke's lawyers will have no trouble making a prima facie case for dilution if the mark is used for any other product.

Wrong. are numerous registered marks that are "COCA-COLA" that are not from the Coca-Cola company.

Mozilla had to rename Firebird to Firefox even though database software and web browser software aren't exactly the same field.

But the actual registered goods and services for the mark could have overlapped.

But whether the "GNOME" mark applies to useful computer software in general or to GUI frameworks in particular is for a judge to decide after the GNOME project's counsel presents its case.

This isn't a GUI framework. It's a tablet PoS system. It does not fall under any of GNOME's registered goods and services.

Re:Trademark breadth

[tepples]

From your link: "This search session has expired. Please start a search session again by clicking on the TRADEMARK icon, if you wish to continue."

Re:Trademark breadth

[ShadowRangerRIT]

How does that make sense? The risk of brand theft is higher with a more widely recognized product. If I introduce Coca Cola branded headphones (to name one of the few things Coca Cola doesn't stick their name on yet AFAIK), my sales would be boosted by the brand name association Coca Cola built, not the merits of my product. That's why trademark protections exist; to avoid borrowing/stealing/damaging (if the product sucks) other companies' reputations unfairly.

Re:Trademark breadth

[Theaetetus]

For example, something like "COCA-COLA" is so famous that Coke's lawyers will have no trouble making a prima facie case for dilution if the mark is used for any other product.

Wrong. are numerous registered marks that are "COCA-COLA" that are not from the Coca-Cola company.

Your link doesn't work. And a search on TESS for "coca-cola" as the full mark and "NOT Coca-Cola Company" as the applicant returns one hit, an abandoned application by a pro se "sovereign citizen": "Harvey W. Wiley DBA We The People INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 900 Georgia Ave Chattanooga TENNESSEE 37402". Searching for "coca-cola" in the description of the mark with "NOT Coca-Cola Company" as the applicant returns one hit, a design for an author's business card that uses the same red color as Coke: "The color(s) coca-cola red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a coca-cola red kneeling fisherman." But it's also abandoned.

Finally, searching for "coca-cola" anywhere in the application, but NOT the Coca-Cola Company as the applicant turns up a pile of applications... from people with addresses at "Coca-cola Plaza" or "Coca-cola Park" in various cities - i.e. tenants in Coke's industrial parks. Is that what you searched for and thought you found?

Re:Trademark breadth

[3dr]

The federal trademark website works in "sessions" that time out. You can easily redo the query to begin a new session instead of posting that the link is bad. Come on, try just *a little bit*.

Re:Trademark breadth

[RavenLrD20k]

...to name one of the few things Coca Cola doesn't stick their name on yet AFAIK...

Couldn't resist.

Re:Trademark breadth

[tepples]

Perhaps I should have been more explicit before: Please state the query arguments that you used so that I may repeat them in a new session.

Re:Trademark breadth

[jedidiah]

> Yes, and the mark's specified goods and services don't overlap with this PoS system.

Except this "POS system" is really just a general purpose computer with a GUI. The point of Trademarks is not splitting legal hairs or finding loopholes but addressing genuine issues of consumer confusion.

Specialty computer system named foo versus GUI software named foo.

Re:Trademark breadth

[Blaskowicz]

Quote from the first link : "When it's complete, Gnome will serve as an operating system for merchants to run their entire operation and enable them to create real-time promotions that bring customers into their business when they need them the most."

It's really a top-level, self-contained GUI versus a top level, self-contained GUI.
Both have significant underlying libraries, GUI toolkit probably, built-in apps - Gnome speaks of "Gnome OS" even. (a rough analogy would be like it's Windows 3.1 on top of DOS. Groupon must be using something be it linux, a BSD variant, QNX etc.)

Re:Trademark breadth

[ihtoit]

you'd only be fucked if your fab facility was in Denmark.
(part of the Coca Cola logo (specifically the right side of the "O" in "Cola") has been acknowledged by the company themselves, after the fact, to look like the Danish flag).

Re:Trademark breadth

[metrix007]

I'm guessing it was perhaps 'coca' and 'cola'. As parent said, please try *a little bit*.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[tepples]

Their trademark registration does not involve goods and services that involve either tablets or PoS systems.

In what way is a tablet not a computer?

GNOME stands for

[tepples]

Originally GNU Network Object Model Environment, but I think this has been deemphasized since at least 2.0.

Re:No confusion

[nedlohs]

GNU Network Object Model Environment

It's only recursive if you are dumb enough to expand GNU for no apparent reason.

A (probably in)correct explanation of Trademarks

[Anonymous Coward]

I am also not a lawyer, but what follows is what I think understand:

It appears that the trademark office uses a classication system. For example, the GNOME foundation's trademark has the classes: 09, 42 (international) and 021, 023, 026, 036, 038, 100, 101 (US). I don't know why the GNOME foundation didn't get a class 35 trademark (see description below).

For simplicities sake, I'm just going to use the international classes from here on out.

The groupon trademarks (Gnome, G-NOME, G.NOME) claims classes 09, 35, and 42. The problems occur with the classes 09 and 42. So groupon could go for the class 35 trademark without running afoul of the preexisting GNOME foundation's trademarks, but would still run afoul of the classes 09 and 42 trademarks if they were to market their POS system.

So what are the classes in question (from USPTO website)?

Class 09: Scientific, nautical, surveying, photographic, cinematographic, optical, weighing, measuring, signalling, checking (supervision), life-saving and teaching apparatus and instruments; apparatus and instruments for conducting, switching, transforming, accumulating, regulating or controlling electricity; apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images; magnetic data carriers, recording discs; compact discs, DVDs and other digital recording media; mechanisms for coin-operated apparatus; cash registers, calculating machines, data processing equipment, computers; computer software; fire-extinguishing apparatus.

Class 35: Advertising; business management; business administration; office functions.

Class 42: Scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto; industrial analysis and research services; design and development of computer hardware and software.

Class 09 applies to ALL computer programs, whether or not they are in entirely different fields. E.g. a graphical user interface or a P.O.S. system.
Class 35 applies to stuff that makes office life easier. Like a POS system or a GUI.
Class 42 applies to services done by computer scientists, which does include programming.

I really don't see where groupon has a leg to stand on here. The GNOME foundation will probably cut them off at their knees, and the GNOME foundation has to do that to defend their trademark. This is becuase, IIRC, trademarks MUST be defended in order to be kept. Furthermore, the USPTO only cares about the classes, not what the respective products do.

Sources:
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/notices/international.jsp
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76368848&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86441913%0A86441922%0A86441923%0A86441925%0A86441926%0A86441930%0A86441933%0A86441934%0A86441937%0A86441941%0A86441945%0A86441951%0A&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=multiStatus
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86287930%0A86287935%0A86287938%0A86287940%0A86287946%0A86287951%0A&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=multiStatus
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86200190%0A86200193%0A86200194%0A86200196%0A86200657%0A86200661%0A86200759%0A86200763%0A86200765%0A86227618%0A&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=multiStatus

Do not care about gnome

[Anonymous Coward]

GNOME 3 developers took a d u m p on its user base. Refused to give a "classic" mode. I have moved on and I haven't looked back. I do not care that they supposedly have a classic mode now - only because RHEL would not have included GNOME 3 without Classic mode.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[Wycliffe]

It seems that there is a clear-cut case for GNOME, that should guarantee victory.

In what way is it "clear-cut"? Their trademark registration does not involve goods and services that involve either tablets or PoS systems.

Gnome's trademark is for "software for creating and managing a computer desktop" which a PoS definitely is.
Gnome's trademark is also for "software for use as a GUI" which again clearly describes a PoS.
A PoS is definitely a GUI, a rather simplistic one but definitely a gui. The fact that gnome also runs on multiple tablets
and has also been previously deployed as a PoS should only strengthen their case. It seems very clear-cut to me.

Huh? What trademark?

[SEE]

Thought they already changed the name of the desktop environment to MATE

English word

[Charliemopps]

You shouldn't be able to trademark any word that's commonly used in the English language to mean something entirely different than the product in question. Especially one that's likely been in use for hundreds of years like "Gnome"

Re:English word

[Bent Spoke]

You mean like those things on your house that you look outside through. Can't think of the name right now.

Don't waste your money

[Anonymous Coward]

Gnome is a poorly managed charity which has diverted most of its revenue away from its chartered purpose (as listed in its IRS Form 990) to become a SJW cause. According to its 2013 990 report, Gnome had $506,477 in expenses, while having only $201,034 in revenue. It has high administrative costs -- the pay of the executive director was $91,180 plus another $56,111 in compensation from the organization and other outside sources. The amount spent on its biggest event promoting actual free software, GUADEC, comes to $35,770, while the Women's Outreach Program got $265,369. A program that doesn't even require that the software produced by sponsored participants to be related to Gnome. This not what the Gnome Foundation was created for. In fact, Gnome Foundation is just really a public-relations front for Red Hat. If Red Hat is worried about Gnome's foot trademark, then let them fund the lawsuit. Gnome already has retained a former Red Hat IP lawyer for the case.

Re:Don't waste your money

[M1FCJ]

There is trolling and there is trolling and this is a good case of that.

if GNOME is a PR front for Red Hat, wow, it's failed miserably, what you spew out above is verified bullshit.

Shame Groupon!

[ikhider]

As I understand it, there are two seperate objectives between the conflicting parties. Groupon is a proprietary software firm that facilitates financial transactions, the other is a not-for-profit user interface designed for all. It is tremendously uncool for a corporate entity to go after a non-for-profit. Rather than taking them to court, we could just shame Groupon. What kind of monstrous people would go after a non-threatening free software project? Heck, Microsoft could have gone after KDE for the way they laid-out the GUI, but didn't. (start button at the bottom left...of course, that would also open up a can of worms for Microsoft...). Are not-for-profits not protected somehow in the US? It is disgusting that this is even a litigation issue. It is like Sony going after PBS in court because their new product hapens to be called "PBS". This is not just an American issue, countless non-Americans use gnome. So how does a US corporation suddenly decide that a free, global application must be threatened? How many poor developing nations actually need FLOSS software? (A LOT). This is low and disgusting. I am apalled. Yes, I know there are detractors for Gnome, but I am sure we can all agree that this GUI is ours and must be defended, even if it is a little deformed...Rather than the courts, why not make a big publicity/PR stink?

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[bws111]

A POS is most certainly NOT "software for creating and managing a desktop". A POS is a thing used to make sales transactions.
A POS is not "software for use as a GUI". A POS is a thing used to make sales transactions.

Is a house 'clearly' a hammer just because a hammer was used to build it? Is a house 'clearly' a nail just because it contains nails?

Trademarks

[ledow]

On to a loser.

Gnome is a generic word, so we'll just lose all trademark ability.

Just being in "computer-related" trademarks isn't broad enough to cover everything from POS down to specific desktop environments. If they used "For GNOME" or based it on GNOME or were creating a desktop environment called Gnome, then yes, possibly.

But really, this is nothing more than Apple Computers vs Apple Records.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[Kjella]

Try to create a computer hardware brand called Windows, advertise your new Windows machine and tell me how many seconds it lasts until you have Microsoft's lawyers on your ass. The criteria is commercial confusion and a system called Gnome is very confusingly similar to a point of sale system using GNOME the desktop environment. Me, not knowing too much of POS systems would probably think that's a GNOME spin-off. If they complain about their shitty Gnome system, I might say "Yeah should have gone with KDE". That is exactly the sort of thing trademark law is designed to avoid.

what's the point?

[ninjaz]

It looks like GNOME has long outlived its usefulness of working around Qt being under an unsuitable license way back when KDE was the de facto standard DE. With its current contributions of pouring fuel onto the fire of the init system debate and now wanting to fund a pissing match over trademarks, it looks like the project is doing more harm than good.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[JesseMcDonald]

Groupon's tablet is not software. No overlap.

That isn't true. They're calling the tablet's software "Gnome(TM)" as well:

Groupon (www.groupon.com) today announced Gnome, a new tablet-based platform...

"When it's complete, Gnome will serve as an operating system..."

Groupon Launches Gnome(TM) — A Tablet Solution that Helps Merchants Run Their Business and Connect with Customers

Even if they were carefully using the name to refer to just the table rather than a "platform" (which would also describe GNOME(TM)), just imagine the hilarity which would ensue if some random company decided to market a "Windows(TM) tablet" without first clearing it with Microsoft(TM). Also note that there are existing Point-of-Sale terminals running the GNOME(TM) desktop environment.

Travelocity?

[NotQuiteReal]

This has nothing to do with their gnome, right?

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[whoever57]

Try to create a computer hardware brand called Windows, advertise your new Windows machine and tell me how many seconds it lasts until you have Microsoft's lawyers on your ass.

Windows is a bad example. Just look a the history of Lindows/Linspire. Microsoft paid for the name to be changed to Linspire.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[Holi]

Both are software and a tablet is most definitely a computer.

In other news...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

Groupon still exists.

Re:In other news...

[ichthus]

*crickets*

I think it's one of the best ideas to hit the web in the last ~5 years. Win for small businesses. Win for cheap-ass consumers. Well implemented. What's your beef?

Re:In other news...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

Their bottom line doesn't reflect this, and their stock value has been in the cellar for quite a while.

On the plus side, the renewed media coverage will add volatility to their stock and investors may be able to make some short term gains.

Re:Both are a POS

[Hognoxious]

Soon everything will be a POS - Poettering's Operating System.

Re:No confusion

[jones_supa]

It's kind of an interesting situation. GNOME itself isn't an recursive acronym but it encompasses the recursive acronym GNU. Does that make GNOME an recursive acronym?

Non-issue

[ichthus]

I like Groupon, and I'm a KDE user. But, most importantly, I think we're all smart enough to know the difference between GNOME and Groupon's tablet. We're not dummies (esp. those of us who are familiar with GNOME) -- we're not going to be confused. So, this is a non-issue.

if you don't fight you lose

[bussdriver]

Can somebody confirm the old line I've heard forever about trademarks?
If you do not defend your trademark, you lose it.

Re:if you don't fight you lose

[ichthus]

You're right, but I believe that pertains to trademarked names for common products being adopted into the vernacular. For instance, Band aid, Kleenex and Velcro. Nobody says, "sterile adhesive bandage", "facial tissue" or "hook-and-loop", yet if the brands weren't defended, any facial tissue company could start marketing Kleenexes, because it's the common term for the product.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[gwjgwj]

You can always invent a new word instead of taking an existing one.

Re:The difference

[0123456]

You forgot the "Yeah, we know we took a dump on your favorite UI, and told you we didn't care about your complaints, and half of you switched to a fork of the old UI..." part.

Windows

[Tony Isaac]

Maybe Microsoft should sue Anderson for infringement of the term "windows" to refer to glass panels for your house!

Bluetooth Groupon "Redemption"

[Blaskowicz]

I am not thrilled by the use of religious vocabulary. So shops are the temples of consumptions, Groupon wants to be the priests and we are expected to show religious fervor when they throw shit at us.
I will keep shopping for groceries with cash and I don't carry little cards and crap ; if you want amazing "offers" please consider dumpster diving for food. It's less degrading and more rewarding.

Funnily, over there anyway there are two ways you can give a shopping place your identity and address : when signing up for a loyalty program, or when caught stealing things.

Re:begging to differ

[Hognoxious]

That's part of why Intel Corp never made or marketed an Intel 80586 chip.

I thought it was because they tried adding 100 to 80486 and got 80585.666 recurring?

Re:begging to differ

[ihtoit]

nope, AC is correct. They tried to file a patent on "586" and were denied by the courts, so they took P5 and added "-ium", claimed that to be a new word and trademarked it. Aaaand then they tried to sue AMD, VIA and Cyrix out of existence instead of actually productively competing.

death wish

[jjohn_h]

Die, Gnome, die. You were so busy harrassing users that you even forgot trademarking your name.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[ihtoit]

a random thought coalesced and occurred to me: would they get away with saying instead that their Gnome POS is an embedded appliance rather than the currently implied full-blown OS which already causes confusion as can be demonstrated simply by reading down the thread?

GNOME

[j127]

Groupon should rename their device "Troll".

Re:begging to differ

[ihtoit]

no I got the FDIV joke, I just didn't consider it relevant. By the way, you missed the 20 year anniversary of that particular bug's discovery by just a fortnight.

pointless

[Xicor]

this is absolutely ridiculous. there are so many things out there being sold with the name 'gnome'. there is no possible way that this new point of sale system will hurt the trademark of gnome, and therefore it is impossible for them to win this case. if they were making a desktop operating system, sure i would agree... but this is just dumb.

P.S. fix the bugs in your operating system before going after people for stupid-ass reasons.

Re:No confusion

[perryizgr8]

yes it does. what's so confusing about it?

GNU is Not Unix Network Object Model Environment

Re:begging to differ

[Hognoxious]

In that case I guess there'll be a slashdot story about it - round about the middle of December.

Re:Let lawyers do it free, in exchange for % damag

[skovnymfe]

Sure but how many Googles and Yahoos do we really need? Names are getting dumber by the day as it is, what with everyone wanting a three or four-letter company name/internet domain.

They just called it off

[vandamme]

...so we can go back to fighting about systemd.

Re:begging to differ

[ihtoit]

I'm surprised nobody's picked up on it yet...