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.
I think the point is clear... Apple does not advertize OS X as a Unix operating system. It advertizes it as a "UNIX-based" operating system, which is entirely correct. Mach was based on 4.2BSD, and FreeBSD is now based upon 4.4BSD Lite 2, both of which are Unix distributions.
This is Apple's argument as well:
"Apple accurately uses the generic term Unix merely to identify or describe an aspect or feature of Apple's Mac OS X operating system. This is consistent with past and current industry standards."
Of course none of us are lawyers (right?) so debating this here is rather moot...