OBSD trademark, was: Re: panic: pmap_enter: no pv entries available

[Toni Mueller <openbsd-misc@oeko.net>]

Hello,

On Mon, Jul 22, 2002 at 02:37:54AM +1000, Darren Reed wrote:
> [ some discussion about trademark law and no researchable trademark
>   on OpenBSD clipped ]
> Well, if OpenBSD is trademark'd then why doesn't a search for it in any
> of the trademark databases (eg www.uspto.gov) actually return a positive
> result ?  I checked this some time ago and again today.  Same empty
> result both times.  btw, just checked Canadian trademark web site.
> Empty set of results there too.
> 
> If you have a better example than that, please supply it.

I don't know how it's in Australia, Sweden or Canada, but in Germany
it's like this:

If you use a name as a brand name long enough and then someone comes
along and gets that name trademarked, you can successfully challenge
that trademark and get it extinguished.

You should also be able to register your long-used name after a while
and then be able to sue other people who use the same name if you
are significantly longer in the game and also much better known.

IANAL, and YMMV, though.


Best,
--Toni++