[asterisk-biz] Open letter to digium, asterisk developers and consultants

[David Boyd]

On Mon, 2008-06-09 at 18:46 -0400, Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-06-09 at 18:16 -0400, David Boyd wrote:
> > On Mon, 2008-06-09 at 17:14 -0400, Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> 
> > > 	However, I'm pretty sure that this has been resolved in the courts.
> > > Even though it's HW, not SW, the "100% IBM Compatible" PC clone
> > > marketing in the 1980s comes to mind. The HW example is probably an even
> > > stronger case, though perhaps the greater mutability of SW than HW, and
> > > the GPL that is designed to foster that mutability and sharing of SW,
> > > and the lack of patents on the SW (which did encumber the IBM PC) all
> > > make an even stronger case for using the word "Asterisk" to compete with
> > > Digium, as long as "Asterisk" is used to identify the Digium product,
> > > and not misleadingly to identify the competing product. The trademark
> > > law takes into account that consumers understand English, and that the
> > > trademark is not some kind of hypnotic mind control that makes the
> > > consumer buy no matter what context it's used in.
> 
> 
> > I thought that IBM released the design of the IBM pc to the world, and
> > they never tried to control the expansion. If true then the argument
> > doesn't support the use of Asterisk in the "Fair" manner that you
> > stated.
> > 
> > Now, to be fair, they probably didn't think that anyone would be able
> > to make use of the design quite so rapidly :)
> 
> 	We're not talking about the (engineering) design, we're talking about
> the trademark. I'm pretty sure that IBM protects the "IBM" trademark
> viciously wherever possible.
> 
> 
> > Dave


Absolutely valid point, this is what I get for not reading the entire
thread prior to responding.

Thanks,
Dave