Scripsit Branden Robinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 04:31:42AM +0000, Henning Makholm wrote:
> > Which would amount to saying "We won't tell you why, but please change > > your name." I think that would be discouteous in the extreme. > No, they simply could have said that they were worried that people would > be confused that NetBSD was a product of the Debian Project. Isn't that what they did? They added that such confusion might make it hard for them to defend their trademark. Is that a threat of litigation against Debian? I think not. It is simply an explanations of their misgivings. > > > Possible approaches include: > > > 1) don't ask, don't tell > > > 2) order us to stop > > > 3) grant us a license > > 4) Ask us nicely to stop. > Not compatible with mention of trademark. Yes, because their trademark is one of the reasons why they would like us to stop. That is called being open, not being threatening. > > And (4). I don't think you have provided *any* evidence that (4) was > > not what they did, and I think that to react as if (2) was the case > > would be silly and excessively confrontational. > There is no such thing as a common-law trademark. I don't see the connection between that and what I wrote. > Telling someone that they are (or "might be") diluting your > trademark is putting them on notice that you think you have a > potential tort claim against them. Perhaps it has that legal implication. You are claiming that this legal implication is *why* they told us about their misgivings. I find it hard to believe that, when the alternative explanation that they were just being polite is so much more likely. > That's not polite in my book. I still don't see how you think they could have explained their problems in a polite way, then. Your book seems to say that being open is impolite. > In yours, for all I know, it's a means of romantic flirtation. Please read what I wrote. Telling us why they are worried *is* polite. Just telling us that they are worred, and deliberately withholding information about why is impolite. -- Henning Makholm "And why should I talk slaves' and fools' talk? I don't want him to live for ever, and I know that he's not going to live for ever whether I want him to or not."