On Sun, May 08, 2005 at 08:48:55AM -0500, Thomas Cameron wrote: > >>This is really a tempest in a teapot. The Cornell/UVA use and Red Hat's > >>use of the name do not conflict. One is for a digital management system > >>and one is for a Linux distribution. I suspect anyone who can spell the > >>word "computer" will know that they are not the same thing. > >> > >>Cornell/UVA are making this into more than it is - Red Hat's own lawyers > >>have said that they can't see any way that there could be a conflict. > >>See > >>http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/11/20/HNredhatfedora_1.html for more > >>info. > >> > >>Thomas > > > >I strongly disagree. It is RedHat that is making the problem by > >wanting to trademark the name Fedora. There was not objection from the > >Cornell/UVA group until RedHat took that action. > > Red Hat is trademarking Fedora *as it relates to a Linux operating system > distribution.* Red Hat admits that Cornell/UVA have prior use and are not > contesting that. See > http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/11/20/HNredhatfedora_1.html, the > paragraph beginning "The researchers have common law rights that protect > their use of the Fedora name, according to Webbink." Note that Webbink is > Red Hat's counsel. Red Hat has made clear they have no intention of > interfering with Cornell/UVA's use of the Fedora name as regards to its > digital management system. > > Read the info on Red Hat's filing at > http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78296509. You will > notice that they are very specific about the trademark application being > for "Computer software, namely, computer programs for operating systems, > and instructional manuals provided therewith as a unit." > > The Cornell/UVA folks and some people in the community are making more of > this than they need to. Red Hat is not the villain here. They are just > trying to protect the hard work they're doing with the Fedora distribution. > They have no desire to impinge on the Cornell/UVA folks, and it is a pretty > wild stretch of the imagination that this would ever happen. > > Thomas We are spending too much time on this but your quoting of Webbink (the name alone makes me suspicious) flies in the face of reality. Fairely often a large corporation sues a smaller store or company for using not only the exactly same name that they have trademarked but for a name that is a pun on their name. If Cornell/UVA were not also marketing software I would be more sympathetic that the trademarking could not affect Cornell/UVA. -- ======================================================================= There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. -- Dr. Who ------------------------------------------- Aaron Konstam Computer Science Trinity University One Trinity Place. San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 telephone: (210)-999-7484 email:akonstam@xxxxxxxxxxx
