According to SPARC Intl's lawyers the problem (at least in their mind) is that when people see a URL like:
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/sparc/maillist.html they will assume that SPARC Intl. is sponsoring the project. I don't think they would have a problem with a project that was not computer related. They feel that our "product" (their term) has not passed their "rigorous compliance testing procedures" and therefore to imply that SPARC Intl. sponsor the project diminishes the value of the mark for the companies that have licensed the mark. I don't really disagree with this idea, except that I don't think anyone in the right mind would assume that SPARC Intl. is sponsoring the project, or that the project is "SPARC Compliant" just because "sparc" is in the URL. I can (somewhat) understand the objection to "sparclinux", but "Linux/SPARC" seems like a pretty standard way to abbreviate "Linux for SPARC processors", just as we do with Linux/Intel, Linux/Alpha, etc. From what I've read of trademark law, I would say this constitutes "fair use" Anyway, their objection was to my web pages. Anything else is outside my domain, and therefore not my responsibility should everyone else decide to continue to use the terms that they have been using :^) Jim Jim Mintha ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Home: (604) 731-7240 Geography System Administrator Work: (604) 822-2174 Fax: 822-6150 Home Page: http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~jim/ >>> SARCAST \'sar-kast\ v. 1. To engage in the art of sarcasm <<< -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .