PL/2, PL/3, PL/4, PL/5, PL/6, PL/7, PL/8, PL/9, PL/10, PL/11,

[Andrew Klossner]

	"Sorry, that name's been taken. When IBM unleashed PL/1 on the
	world, I believe they trademarked PL/2 through PL/99 to avoid
	be upstaged."

Yes, but US trademark law specifically provides that if a company does
not use a trademark it reverts to the public domain.  Since IBM has had
these trademarks for almost twenty years and hasn't released a product
under those marks, they no longer have a valid claim to them.

On the other hand, some authorities claim that a trademark consists
only of its letters; digits are insignificant.  This is why an earlier
language was called SIMSCRIPT IV, rather than SIMSCRIPT 4, so as not to
collide with a different trademark, SIMSCRIPT.  By this argument, any
name for a programming language whose letters are "PL" would be a
violation of the PL/1 trademark.  [But then, some of IBM's compilers
have been called PL/I.]

Of course, all this is probably academic, as they have enough lawyers
to bankrupt a challenger in civil lawsuits.

  -- Andrew Klossner   (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew)      [UUCP]
                       (orca!andrew.tektronix at rand-relay)  [ARPA]