[License]: need expert

David Simmons David.Simmons at smallscript.com
Sun Feb 10 12:39:53 UTC 2002


> -----Original Message-----
> From: squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org [mailto:squeak-dev-
> admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org] On Behalf Of Cees de Groot
> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 1:40 AM
> To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> Subject: Re: [License]: need expert
> 
> Alan Kay <Alan.Kay at squeakland.org> said:
> >And while you are at it, explain to them that trademarking "Open
> >Source", if they reallly have done something so dumb, is at least a
> >moral violation of everything that "open source" is about.
> >
> I said:
> >>you cannot call it Open Source (AFAIK, that's a trademark) [...]

While I don't really care, I would note that the term "open source" was
in popular use for a very long time. Any trademark based on the stylized
"Open Source" term is therefore on extremely weak ground, and it is
actually a bit strange that they were even granted a trademark for it
[but lots of things have slipped through the PTO in earlier years]. Just
because a mark is granted, does not make it legally binding. It only
adds to the credibility of the mark if challenged.

I.e., If you understand U.S. trademark law, then you would know that is
highly unlikely this trademark would hold up if it was really challenged
in the U.S.  Especially if it is challenged before it is over five years
old as a (r) registered trademark. The very term "open source" is
directly descriptive, and therefore would almost certainly not meet the
trademark term standards if challenged.

-- Dave S. [SmallScript LLC]

SmallScript for the AOS & .NET Platforms
David.Simmons at SmallScript.com | http://www.smallscript.org

> 
> That's why I put the AFAIK in there. There was rumour that they wanted
to
> do
> that back in '9x, but it turned out they went for a service mark on
> "OSD-compliant" (more-or-less), which I think is entirely reasonable.
> 
> (I wouldn't have a problem at all with TM'ing "Open Source". After
all,
> the
> normal term is "freeware"...)
> --
> Cees de Groot               http://www.cdegroot.com
<cg at cdegroot.com>
> GnuPG 1024D/E0989E8B 0016 F679 F38D 5946 4ECD  1986 F303 937F E098
9E8B





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