Daniel Carrera wrote:
The second it becomes legal to call it "OpenOffice" I will.From what I've found in my short research at the trademark and patent office, any reference to OpenOffice or Open Office are dead. Nobody holds them. Of course this was only the US office so I'm not sure about who might hold foreign claims... but in any event, is it not legal to have a name that is the same as another business as long as we are not doing the same thing? For instance, let's say there is a business Realtor running under the name "open office". Can they actually sue for using the same name for a software productivity suite? I think not. We're not even close to being related. Furthermore, if we trademarked the name Open Office or OpenOffice (or both) first, then there is no contest, correct? IANAL, but this seems pretty cut and dry to me.
I've always said that computer programmers are no good at marketing (this is a generalization of course.. not aimed at any one of you) as they have other agendas getting in the way of seeing clearly, whether that be the concept of free software, what toolkit was used to create the package, etc. etc. Take a look at the developers of Ubuntu Linux for instance. Their current release is called 'Warty' and their upcoming release is titled 'Hoary Hedgehog' , which gives me the impression I need to whip out my wallet, pay for services rendered, and hit the confessional in the morning. Taken literally, it means 'ancient insect eating rodent'. Bad bad bad bad. While that sounds great to a developer it by no means makes any sense to a consumer. Do you get what I'm saying? I don't want to come off sounding like I'm against anyone for their opinion that .org should stay, but asking that you step back and take a look as an everyday consumer might. For me? I could care less. I use the suite every day of my life and would continue to do so even if you decided to name it RunAroundInMyBirthdaySuit.org... I am in it because it's an excellent product... but I'm not an ordinary consumer either.
In any event, maybe this is something that should be put to a vote. Seems many are interested in it, and I'm willing to be there are lurkers who aren't saying anything yet, but would vote just the same :)
Best, Adam
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