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.
Permalink for comment
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Recent Original Stories
Recent Comments
Headlines
Random Comments
Random Stories
Random OS Link
The generic exception ahs to do with whether or not the term is generic to the vocabulary of the product's market.
i.e. I can't call my company Tire Co. if I produce tires because it prevents competitors access to a genric term.
The issue over Windows is not decided, but the argument is Windows are a genric and commonly used term in GUI systems.
Apple is not generic. When have you ever "appled" your computer or trashed your "apple"? Apple in this case is a unique product name. And because of this situation: where a unique term is being applied in a novel way to a marketplace which doesn't use the term "apple", you can have multiple companies with the same term in their mark, i.e. Apple Computers and Apple Records. (Of course, this raises an issue if and when these two companies compete, but nevermind that...)
UNIX is a novel name but it has been used generically in academic circles for years to apply to a type of architecture. It has a generic application. This is how Apple is using it.
I hope that clears things up, but I suspect it didn't.
(#1 Pet Peeve in the tech world: when people say: Apple is generic, Oracle is generic.... Errrrrrr!!! You just don't get it!)