Serious trademark trouble.

[David Johnson]

On Sat, 12 Aug 2000, Russell Nelson wrote:

> Anyway, it's all a moot point since we've stopped defending "Open
> Source".  As one of the people on the front line of the trademark
> defense, I can tell you that it was hopeless.  If you have a different
> opinion, I have to wonder what evidence you base it on.  For example,
> we ran into an Australian fellow who was claiming that his proprietary
> software product was Open Source.  How do you stop him?  He has no
> business locus in the US, and yet people in the US -- indeed the world
> -- were hearing about this proprietary "Open Source" product.

At one time there was talk about Open Source certification. Is this
still being considered? A trademark may not be possible, but a
certification would be the next best thing. That proprietary product
may call itself Open Source, Free Software, or even Fred, but if it
isn't certified by those who created the definitions, it's meaningless.

However, fraud proceeding against that company may be possible. It is
claiming the software to be something that it's not.

-- 
David Johnson
_________________________
<http://www.usermode.org>