looks like linux will have to go

[SpiralDragon]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8734

lawyers never seece to amaze me

[gt40]

Fecken Lawyers!

What do you call a smiling, sober, courteous person at a bar association convention?
The caterer.

What is the difference between a tick and a lawyer?
A tick falls off of you when you die.

A lawyer finds out he has an inoperable brain tumor. It's so large, they have to do a brain transplant. His doctor gives him a choice of available brains. There's a jar of rocket scientist brains for $10 an ounce, a jar of regular scientist brains for $15 an ounce, and a jar of lawyer brains for the sum of $800 an ounce. The outraged lawyer says, "This is a ripoff! How come the lawyer brains are so damned expensive?" The doctor replies, "Do you know how many lawyers it takes to get an ounce of brains?"

[SpiralDragon]

ROFL........ that last one was realy good...

[Brian Ellis]

Typical lawyer's trick. In reality, I understand the problem. In Germany, a Trade Mark has to be registered to obtain protection, unlike many other countries where it is not mandatory. In the latter, if it is registered, then you are entitled to use (R), if not, then (TM). It is possibly illegal, in countries which do not have the two-tier system, to use (R) if it is not registered or the registration has lapsed. That means that any other person could register the name, so Bill Gates could register Linux in Germany, if he wanted and Linus whatshisname could do nothing about it. However, there is nothing to stop the name Linux from being used legally in Germany unless someone else has registered it. The only thing is that there would be no protection against anyone else using it, as well. So a Hans Schmidt could legally sell a Linux word processor or even a competitive OS (but not in many other countries).

Intellectual Property is a nightmare and a ripe area for lawyers. It pays them very well! It is complicated by, despite International Treaties, such as the Berne Convention, and the Bureau International de la Propriété Intellectuelle in Geneva, national laws do vary enormously. This means that identical lawsuits in different countries can have very different outcomes.

[Wulfman]

the lawyer (Freiherr von Gravenreuth) is already well known for this type of law suits...

mfg
wulfman

[Gurm]

Well for example, there's a company in Germany selling a product called "CDRWin 5.0".

It is NOT related to Golden Hawk, nor do they have any permission from Golden Hawk to use the engine. They tell a variety of false stories about their entitlement to use the name, but the truth is that it's a shitty little app built up on the Disc Juggler engine, and they just registered the name CDRWin in Germany.

I have spoken.

- Gurm

[Kurt]

that's why you need a global registration office.

[UtwigMU]

Well, our company registered Macedonian national food names as their trade marks in Germany.