Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 18:24:47 -0800 From: Ted Faber <faber@ISI.EDU> To: jbryant@tfs.net Cc: gdk@ccomp.inode.COM (Gary Kendall), freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: mv /usr/src/games /dev/null - any objections? Message-ID: <199711040224.SAA08017@tnt.isi.edu> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 03 Nov 1997 19:18:37 CST." <199711040118.TAA03476@argus.tfs.net>
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Jim Bryant wrote: >In reply: >> > upon receipt of a letter from Hasbro's legal council >> > stating that we are violating the trademark on "Boggle", a Hasbro >> > game. > >well, how about these suggestions: > Part of having a trademark means that they have to protect it. In fact, the law all but forces them to come after us. Failure for them to come after FreeBSD for infringing their trademark after they knew we were infringing it could open them up to losing a case against someone who really *was* trying to steal their trademark for profit. Kind of like my little brother got to do lots of stuff because Mom let me do 'em first. I don't think that's the mark of a sane society, but it's the way the law is written and is enforced. To protect their trademark from others they have to protect it from us. Xerox didn't and poof, xerox is an English word and 3M can include it in their adds. > Point out EVERY MS-DOG/WINBLOWZ version to these corporations, >and tell them to go for the real numbers... That won't get them off our back, but they will have to go after all of them then. > > Ask them to write a FreeBSD version. Failing this, cite the >fact that since they fail to support the market, they thus have >abandoned it. All after that is fair play. Unfortunately, this is about the law, not fair play. I'm no lawyer, but I bet we lose this one in court. > > Also point out that they have had how long to complain? How >long has boggle been part of BSD? Ignorance is not an excuse for them >either, especially if a profit is not being made. If you can show they've known about the program for some time and taken no action, you might have a case here. Otherwise, they've got to take action pretty much as soon as they know about us. > Also point out that Boggle is not that high priority item >apparently, as they fail to include it on their homepage. Doesn't matter to the lawyers. Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, but I can produce two intellectual property guys like that. :-) Oh, I don't play any of the games but rogue, which I think of as ASCII Doom. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ted Faber faber@isi.edu USC/ISI Computer Scientist http://www.isi.edu/~faber (310) 822-1511 x190 PGP Key: http://www.isi.edu/~faber/pubkey.asc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNF6Hbob4eisfQ5rpAQGt9wQAisVrkqgJ/cAor/punvk3fZtzkq6ZZFIl gAQNriMYscZosqSYWT3rti/g/Utyv2MDS8xab8wvjTPifaMv2LqqXR0kf0VCd8IM L3pvU+BQsZonktrj3XhsHYy3Y5bXnQWjg9CZI98bU6fIbMjdkUc8NKme7/pDniBt Ab6ydH383hI= =d98C -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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