[CLUE-Talk] RedHat Sues SCO

[Charles Oriez]

At 08:53 PM 8/4/2003 -0600, Jed S. Baer wrote:

>Some quotage:
>
>The seven count complaint is broken up into two parts. The first two are
>designed to show that Red Hat's technologies do not infringe any
>intellectual property of SCO.
>
>The other five invoke the Lanham Act and ask the courts for a permanent
>injunction holding SCO accountable for what CEO Matthew Szulik calls
>"unsubstantiated innuendo and rumor."
>
>"For the past two months, we have listened to these unfounded claims,"
>Szulik said. "We've been patient. We've listened. But when our customers
>and the whole open-source community are threatened with innuendo and
>rumor, it's time to act. Our goal is to find out the truth. Our suggestion
>to SCO is to 'prove it.'"
>
>http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/10791_2244211
>
>http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2003/press_sco.html
>
>Now if I only knew what the Lanham act was about. A findlaw.com search
>comes up with too many links, none of them to useful pages -- for someone
>(like me) wanting just a summary.
>

IANAL, but I can fake it

Cornell's Legal Information Institute has a good overview page, including 
related law and treaties
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/trademark.html

The AOL legal department, believe it or not, probably has the best concise 
definition of it:

"The Lanham Act defines the statutory and common law boundaries to 
trademarks and service marks. Trademarks (and service marks) are words or 
designs used in the advertising of goods and services. Rights to use a 
trademark are defined by the class(es) for which the trademark is used. 
Therefore, it is possible for different parties to use the same trademark 
in different classes. The Lanham Act defines the scope of a trademark, the 
process by which a federal registration can be obtained from the Patent and 
Trademark Office for a trademark, and penalties for trademark infringement. 
The Legal Information Institute provides 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/>Title 15 of the US Code, which 
encompasses the Lanham Act. "

This is also the law under which cybersquatters can be sued, ever since the 
Clinton administration signed an anti cybersquatting act in the late 
90's.  http://tinyurl.com/j0lq





coriez at oriez.org         Charles Oriez
39  34' 34.4"N / 105 00' 06.3"W
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