Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 01:14:05 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: jkh@time.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Cc: faber@ISI.EDU, jbryant@tfs.net, gdk@ccomp.inode.COM, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: mv /usr/src/games /dev/null - any objections? Message-ID: <199711050114.SAA01542@usr02.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <7783.878637272@time.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at Nov 4, 97 01:54:32 am
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> > 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. > > Thank you, this sums up the situation very nicely for those here who > are ignorant of trademark law. What about those of us who aren't, know about the "Apple Records vs. Apple Computers" precedent from the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals (who has jurisdiction over Walnut Creek CDROM), and realize that it's all nothing more than a cost/benefit calculation based on a cost estimate times a risk factor? At the very least, you should have your lawyer-on-retainer send a letter back citing the Apple precedent along with the fact tyhat they aren't in the FreeBSD software market, and that you would be happy to remove it and sign a joint press release of the event, if they ever change their minds and start developing software for the platform, and see if it flies. Probably your biggest hurdle is that you haven't made it clear to them that not all machines can run DOS/Windows software just because they are x86 based PC's. Until you do this, they won't see that a space differentiation doesn't exists, inre: Apple. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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