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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.questions:5384 comp.os.386bsd.misc:1109 Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.os.386bsd.misc Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!constellation!osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!sdd.hp.com!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!emba-news.uvm.edu!sadye.emba.uvm.edu!wollman From: wollman@sadye.emba.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: kernel names Message-ID: <1993Sep24.212913.18919@emba.uvm.edu> Sender: news@emba.uvm.edu Organization: University of Vermont, EMBA Computer Facility References: <1993Sep21.194457.10899@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <27pe7k$4vq@germany.eu.net> <27pqqj$ibk@pdq.coe.montana.edu> <27uflq$75l@germany.eu.net> Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1993 21:29:13 GMT Lines: 26 In article <27uflq$75l@germany.eu.net>, Bernard Steiner <bs@Germany.EU.net> wrote: >You're kidding. The do NOT have the copyright for each and every occurance of >the sub-string "unix" in upper and lower case. Of course not. Copyright doesn't even enter into it. Trademark law does, and I suggest that a court could reasonably come to the conclusion that a kernel named `/vmunix' was deceptively similar to Novell's trademark `UNIX' and might imply that the file so designated actualy had something to so with said product. Remember, USL sued BSDi over the use of the phone number 800-487-8649, and was able to get an injunction against BSDi ever using a phone number containing the digits `8649', because on American phones one can dial this as `UNIX'. Frankly, I prefer `/vmduck', myself. (An allusion to Paul Vixie's famous comment defending BSD as ``real UNIX''.) -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | Shashish is simple, it's discreet, it's brief. ... wollman@emba.uvm.edu | Shashish is the bonding of hearts in spite of distance. uvm-gen!wollman | It is a bond more powerful than absence. We like people UVM disagrees. | who like Shashish. - Claude McKenzie + Florent Vollant