Follow-Up of the Linux Trademark in Germany

An Anonymous Coward writes "Apparently, the recent claim for the trademark "Linux" in Germany will be "properly" handed. According to this article (in German), Linus Torvalds holds the rights for Linux in Germany and the EU for quite some time. The German Linux user group LIVE has already unchained their lawyers to take care of the recent attempt to register Linux as trademark again. " Try Babelfishing the article.

Comments

translation

[KeefR]

Trademark laws for Linux belong to Linus Torvalds
Cologne: The trademark rights for Linux not only in the USA, but also in Europe belong to Linus Torvalds (German label 2088936, EU markenanmeldung 000851246).
This explained the chairman of the German Linux federation LIVE, Achim Cloer, on Wednesday after the news, that a Hamburg based system houses protected the word label ' Linux ' as a trademark at the German patent office. ' Linus Torvalds will not bear the violation of its rights and use all legal means against it' Cloer said.
The patent lawyer of the Linux federation, Rainer Feldkamp, which at the same time represents the interests of Torvalds in Europe, explained , the announced trademark protection of the Hamburg based system houses was not durable considering the existing trademark rights of Torvalds. 'we will immediately contradict thisnew trademark application, unauthorized by Torvalds, at the German Patent and Trademark Office', announced Feldkamp. 'There's no reason to get upset'.

Translation done with babelfish and my bad english from school.
Keef

We have to work within the system

[konstant]

in order to subvert it. If Torvald's hadn't held prior use for the name Linux, what chance would users in Germany now stand agains this assault on their freedoms? Similarly, if OSI didn't hold a pending patent on "open source" or the FSF hadn't produced their legal GPL license, how long would the meaning of open source survive without dilution, and how long would the concept of free software survive the merciless world of capitalism?

It seems frustrating at times that we have to work within the strictures of the very society we're basically trying to overthrow. Personally, I sometimes feel as if we're just being allowed to play our little games by The Man :) I know that's paranoid, of course.

Will there ever be a time when lawyers won't be necessary to fight for our freedoms online? At what point will the need for those freedoms become "just obvious" to the average citizen or trial judge?

In my lifetime, I hope.

-konstant