Re:The Z3 theorem prover is now open source
by iy56 on Thursday October 04, 2012 @03:31PM
(#4613943)
Window managers are still commonly called window managers today. Word processors are still called word processors. That's the point - Microsoft hasn't taken away these generic terms. No, you can't call your competing product the exact same thing they call theirs. Why should you be able to? That'd be retarded.
Re:The Z3 theorem prover is now open source
by nitrogen on Friday October 05, 2012 @03:31AM
(#4615992)
No, you can't call your competing product the exact same thing they call theirs.
Likewise, it is reasonable that Microsoft can't call their competing license "open source" when that term already has an established commercial definition and trademark with a specific set of consumer expectations.
Further, until a tradmeark is filed or established by extensive use, competing products can use similar words in their titles. Once upon a time you could have had Microsoft Windows, OpenWindows, the comp.windows.x newsgroup (suggesting that X is a subset of the generic category of "Windows"), etc. Now they will sue if your OS name even rhymes with Windows.
This is a bit of a digression from the original topic, but seems tangentially relevant given that we're talking about Microsoft accidentally misusing or deliberately abusing a term that has an accepted meaning in the marketplace, the very purpose for which trademarks were created.
[Also, I should have added the following disclaimer to the previous comment: Disclaimer: Long ago, in a galaxy far away, I worked for a company that seemed to have a chance at invalidating the Windows trademark, but when Microsoft offered a large settlement, my former employer took the money and ran.]