Linus Torvald has trademarked the name Linux and has moved forward to ask companies using the name to pay a trademark fee. Late last week, an Australian company started pursuing companies using the name with the demand that they pay a $5,000 fee to use it. The problem is, trademarks are not designed to protect companies. Trademarks exist to protect consumers from confusion. In this way, they are different from patents. One cannot treat a trademark the same as a patent. At this stage, Linux has an uphill battle as a mark because it's been so widely used for something that is, after all, advocated for its freeness. Instead, the strategy should be to look to those who have a vested interest in in Linux meaning something definitive to contribute to a legal defense fund for the mark. Trademark enforcement is very expensive and because of how long the name has been floating around in use, it could be expensive to protect it. A Linux mark institute has been set up to try to coordinate efforts on the mark. The question is, is it too little too late or can Linux, as a name, be effectively protected at this stage? Source: Neowin.net
Could be hard after being out for so long. They've got to be careful it doesn't become a genericized trademark of some sort.
I don't know how long he's been waiting, but if he's doing that because of the success of Linux as it is right now, I think he's going to find that if he's trying to make money off of it now, he's in for a rude awakening. Now, if he's been waiting for it to go through for a number of years, then I'm willing to cut him quite a bit of slack--although the circumstances don't exactly look good for his case. If he's decided to pop this one out in the past few years, then I think he could get a backlash from his handling of it.
yeah its a powerful OS sure why not, all he needs is some good windows self program installing software that can install windows software with no problem and hes got the perfect OS
Let me explain this in a little more detail. The idea is to prevent companies from misusing using the word "Linux" in their company or product name. Imagine if there was a company called "Microsoft International Computing" or something like that, or "Microsoftekka". If they were fly-by-night companies, they could damage the public perception and reputation of that company and their products. Furthermore, the trademarks of their respective company names would encumber the real Microsoft's use of their own trademarks! Incidentally, the Linux name trademark fee is very small and only applies to companies with the word "Linux" appearing in their actual company name. For instance, "Linux Retailers, Inc" would have to pay the trademark fee. "Penguin Computing", whose sole proprietorship is based off of Linux products and services, would pay no such fee. Imagine if other operating system vendors were that lax with their trademarks. For perspective, Lindows didn't even contain the words "Windows", "Micro", or "Soft", but MS still tried to sue them out of existance until they changed their name to Linspire. And just imagine a company called "Inconspicuous Business Machines". Sure, that'd fly. So no, Linus Torvalds is not extorting money out of people. Yes, you can still use the trademarked word "Linux" in everything but your companies' name or product, just like any other trademark. If you do want to use it in your companies' name, there is now some quality control in play, so you must register it and pay a small fee. And by the way, this story is old news. -AT P.S. - Linus posted about this himself about a week ago, after this thing had reached a frenzy. You should probably read it if you care. Also, the fee ranges from $200 for small companies to $5000 for multimillion-dollar companies. Additionally, "Linux" has been trademarked by Linus for a very long time, so the trademark itself isn't new. People have been trying to get Linus to police that trademark for a long time now, that's why the LMI (Linux Mark Institute) was formed.
