Hi Gregory,
You may be correct, since registration isn't even a requirement for a
trademark to be valid. My point was just that Apple doesn't appear
very interested in the legacy NeXT trademarks, to the point that they
maintain only a couple of them, whereas they still go through the
effort of maintaining trademarks related to legacy Apple II products.
It implies to me that the NeXT trade names are held in pretty low
regard now. My other point was that Workspace.app wasn't the name of
the application -- just the name of the directory that held it, whereas
"Workspace Manager" was the trademark and the name of the application,
used in all of the manuals, etc. As long as the name of the
application is still "GNUStep Workspace", there really isn't a chance
of confusion, which is the whole point of trademark/brand name
registration -- besides which, Apple hasn't sold this application or
used the trade name in a decade -- even less chance for confusion.
Speaking for myself, I'm very much in favor of functional naming -- and
that limits the namespace for this type of application significantly --
"workspace" is the function this application provides -- that's an even
more apt description IMHO than "desktop".
The above thought about the name of the application vs. the name it has
in the filesystem of course reminds me of some famous lines from Louis
Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass":
The name of the song is called "HADDOCKS' EYES."' 'Oh, that's the name
of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel interested. 'No, you
don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. 'That's
what the name is Called. The name really Is "THE AGED AGED MAN."'
'Then I ought to have said "That's what the SONG is called"?' Alice
corrected herself. 'No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The
SONG is called "WAYS AND MEANS": but that's only what it's Called, you
know!' 'Well, what Is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this
time completely bewildered. 'I was coming to that,' the Knight said.
'The song really Is "A-SITTING ON A GATE": and the tune's my own
invention.'
It is really up to Enrico. I was just offering my opinion, different
from yours, about how important this name might be to Apple.
Best regards,
--Robert
On Sep 23, 2006, at 10:55 AM, Gregory John Casamento wrote:
Robert,
All of your discussion about what is or is not on the USPTO site with
respect to this and other TMs owned by Apple is entirely irrelavent.
My point is that just because the TM is abandoned according to the
USPTO does not mean that Apple will not sue us for naming applications
the same as they do.
Do what you want, but, mark my words, it's tempting fate.
Later, GJC
--Gregory Casamento
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