NetBSD Trademark Application Completed

Daniel de Kok writes "The NetBSD Foundation is proud to announce that it has registered the ``NetBSD®'' trademark. The foundation would like to thank Jay Michaelson (Wasabi Systems) for filing the application and providing answers to the US Patent Office, and Carl Oppedahl (Oppedahl & Larson) for giving advice and keeping the Foundation informed about the process. An official policy on the use of the NetBSD® trademark is currently being drafted and will be made public soon."

trivial?

[Joceyln Parfitt]

the NetBSD 'core' must have a lot of money if they can spend thousands on little things like trademarks (especially ironical considering the BSD licence almost like public domain, you'd think these people wouldn't care about copyrights and trademarks, etc).

Looking at the application:

Filing Date: 2000-09-12

That must have cost a fortune in lawyer fees. But then, if this is what it takes to further improve their already great product (I run it on my IPAQ!), more power to them.

What is a typical cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

What would be considered a typical cost to trademark a name? USPTO fee? Does one really need a lawyer? If something trademarked here, what is the cost to trademark it worldwide? Does one need to go to each countries trademark office or can one file with the WTO (world Trade Office) equivalent and do it all in one place?

Logo?

[KevinDumpsCore]

Yes, but do they have a logo to go with that trademark yet? (http://www.netbsd.org/Changes/#logo-contest-close d)

This seems more like a BFD, so what story...

[feloneous cat]

I mean, frankly, what does this buy them? Anything?

I'm more puzzled than angered.

And what about the new logo?

[Anthony Boyd]

I hope I'm still in the running [outshine.com]. Anyone else enter? I sure wish I could see my competition.

New Logo Too?

[nurb432]

How is that process coming along? Now would be a good time for them to release it.

Debian NetBSD projects?

[molo]

I wonder if this is going to effect the Debian GNU/NetBSD [debian.org] and Debian GNU/KNetBSD [debian.org] porting projects. I'm curious to see their use policy.

-molo

Re:It is trivial!

[jd]

$500 is hardly trivial, compared to the money they must be making. Nobody ever accused *BSD of being a money-spinner. It may be good, but it isn't there to make a profit.

Then, there's the risk-factor. What, really, is the risk of a competing *BSD distribution taking the name of "NetBSD"? Again, no insult intended, but it's not got the mindshare to be seriously at risk. It's not Rolls Royce, for example.

Finally, what could the money have been spent on, otherwise? $500 is a week's worth of documenting, or maybe even a student hand-out for re-writing the installer. Wouldn't those have been more valuable?

Nonetheless, it's done. Time enough to regret the decision later. Now, it's a matter of figuring out what it actually means in practice. Is this a device to prevent code forks and/or another split-off? Were there core members threatening to form a breakaway distribution of their own?

And if internal politics were the reason, why not settle the issues peacefully? Is hostility the only way things can get done anymore? I hope not.

Re:It is trivial!

[jhunsake]

$500 is oh-so-trivial

Most people can make $500 in a day (eg painting a house). Many people can make $500 in a few hours. And there are still a lot of people that can make $500 in less than an hour. Sure, it may pay a student to do something, but that is hardly an accurate depiction of time-is-money.

Re:trivial?

[Eraser_]

Is NetBSD a registered non- or not-for- profit organization? If so, who is to say they didn't get some of the work pro-bono as a tax write off? Offer many hours free in exchange for repayment of real out of pocket expenses and write the rest off as donation to a non-profit.

Organizations like these have many friends in many places. Who is to say a spouse or friend of a NetBSD developer/PR person didn't write some of these documents in their spare time? Friend of mine traded some internet access and good social engineering for a few hours of lawyer time to draw up some TOS and 1year contracts for the wireless internet he was going to sell to his neighbors.

Re:And what about the new logo?

[hubertf]

We're still sorting the >400 submissions out. Sorry for the delay, we hope to get to the final state of the logo finding soon.

- Hubert