UNIX trademark
God
root%bostonu.csnet at csnet-relay.arpa
Mon Nov 19 07:29:02 AEST 1984
AT&T sent me a copy of what appeared to be the start of
a user's magazine called '$ echo' dated July 1984.
(does anyone know any more about this mag? definitely
published by AT&T)
At any rate, there is an entire legalish article devoted
to (title:) "Use of the Trademark UNIX"
A few choice comments that might settle the issue:
'UNIX is an unregistered trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories
used to identify its particular brand of software.'
'A trademark identifies the source of a product.'
'The trademark UNIX must always appear in a form that is
typographically distinct'
'The trademark UNIX must be clearly and legibly identified
as a trademark of AT&T at least once in any article, advertisement
or document...'
(because it is UNREGISTERED don't use (R) )
(essentially no one but AT&T is licensed to use the UNIX trademark)
'The trademark UNIX may not be used as a noun, but must always
be used as an adjective modifying a common noun as in "UNIX
operating system"' [good example]
'A way to check whether a use of the trademark is correct is to
mentally insert the word "Brand" between the trademark and the
common name. "UNIX brand operating system" sounds reasonable
but "UNIX Brand user" does not' [a verbatim quote, I swear.]
A few other points.
-Barry Shein, Boston University
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