Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Wed 11th Jun 2003 21:39 UTC
Apple Computer is being sued by The Open Group, the San Francisco company that claims ownership of the Unix trademark, for using the term Unix in conjunction with its Mac OS X operating system without a license. Apple has countersued, asking a judge to declare that the trademark is invalid, because the term Unix has become generic. This legal battle, though separate from SCO's recent claim that Linux uses copyrighted Unix source code, adds further fire to the debate over the custody of Unix--the 30 plus-year old OS originally developed by AT&T.
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That's a good point, Rayineer, but I think the issue is whether or not they have pursued protecting their mark in every instance.
For that matter, Apple isn't calling their product UNIX. They aren't referring to Unix in any product names.. so the question is: does Apple's usage of "Unix-based" rise to the level of usurping the mark "UNIX"? That is: they aren't using it as a mark themselves, they are using it as a generic descriptor. This is where generic plays in--Apple's claim is they don't care to use the mark, they want to make a general refernce to the underlying tech and heritage of their system.
I find the idea that NeXT referred to itself similarly particularly intriguing. If they had, and the OG didn't pursue a claim against them at that time--the OG has allowed their claim to be diluted.