[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Surely Apache has run into this before, no?
Yup. For example Microsoft has Avalon, and Sony has Cocoon. But our projects are "Apache Avalon" and "Apache Cocoon".
So it's not *strictly* necessary to change the name, but why risk when you don't have a brand to protect anyhow.
Is it possible for a company to register a name which is used by others in the same domain earlier?
>
E.g. if Apache uses "Ant" for years; can Microsoft register that name for another neat tool now?
IANAL, but AFAIK no.
I think it often comes down to size of legal team. Windows(tm) is meant to refer to MS windows when you write some app like "Random File Deleter for Windows" or "Sobig.F email worm for Windows".
Sun are fussy about anything using Java and J2EE, too. very fussy.
The trick in these situatins is to win by losing wittily:
1. ...a few years back Apple were using bogus science concepts for the names of products, like 'Cold Fusion' and 'Carl Sagan'. But the latter discovered there was a product nicknamed Sagan in the works and sent threatening letters. So it was renamed 'BHA' for butt-head-astronomer.
2. Every so often Scott Adams gets threatening letters about something and demand retractions. They do so, in a way that is designed to make fun of the litigant. An example of this was one where they said AntFarm without making clear it was trademarked, which resulted in a cartoon like
Dogbert: we are advised that antfarm is a trademark of somebody ....
Dilbert: so what do you call something where you breed ugly little creatures for fun
Dogbert: law school
....
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