Apple Sued Over Unix Trademark

Jerrry writes "CNET News reports The Open Group is suing Apple over unlicensed use of the Unix trademark, after Apple used the term in conjunction with its Mac OS X marketing. Apple, meanwhile, is countersuing to have the Unix trademark declared invalid because the term has become generic."

In other News...

[Davak]

Yes, in other news the FGA (Fruit Growers of America) is filing suit against Apple.

"Apple" is pretty damn generic term... get off soapbox!

Davak

Next on /.

[Mr. Sketch]

SCO sues Open Group for illegal suing over the Unix trademark.

Followed by:
SCO sues Mr. Sketch for using the term 'Unix' in a public discussion forum without their prior permissions.

I think i'll side with Apple

[qortra]

I have no idea who the "Open Group" is, but it sounds like they pretend to support GNU/Linux. Suing for things like the name "Unix" however seems to me to be very much against the ideals of GNU and the FSF. I'd keep a close eye on this organization; they sound like posers.

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[RLiegh]

Unix has become a generic term. Removing trademark status would benefit not only Apple, but the free Unixes, Linux and the BSDs.

But it would severely hurt the GNU movement. ["it's not unix? Why isn't it unix? Does that mean it isn't free software?"]

KB

[sbszine]

Now if IBM would just sue Kevin Bacon, you'd really have something there...

Hoping the lawyers involved choke on their hot air

[Vicegrip]

The day just isn't the same without a UNIX related lawsuit.... lately I've been thinking the medieval witch test (the water drowning one) could easily find itself a new vocation in detecting corrupt lawyers.

"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[EccentricAnomaly]

I never liked "GNU/Linux"... it's sounds kinda hokey... but "GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it...

You get everything, Unix and Not-Unix all rolled together :)

Re:In other News...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, please create the toilet paper.

SCO wouldn't like that

[eddy]

a toilet papaer brand called SCO with no trademark problems.

Actually, that's reserved for Authentic SCO Stock(TM)

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[RLiegh]

GNU's Not Unix...except on alternate tuesdays.

I think I need an ibuprofen now!

Noonix?

[zogger]

isn't that the operating system robin williams uses??

Re:Go Apple!

[Jason1729]

While we're at it, the courts should declare SCO a generic term for "silly lawsuit"

Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]

unix is generic!

[Sophrosyne]

I woke up this morning and ate my Unix brand cereal, talked on the Unix for a while, and then Unixed my car to work.. How can anyone say Unix is not generic!!?
Apple has a rock solid case, the Opengroup can go Unix themselves

Jurassic Park

[post_toastie]

"It's a UNIX system! I know this!!!"

Did Crichton and Spielberg pay a license for that?

Lawyers

[Tsugumi]

Is there a special offer on suing technology firms at the moment? "Shopper, head to aisle 5, where you will find a team of lawyers armed with TLA's, right by canned goods"

Well, I'm suing Apple, Open, SCO, IBM, all you lot, and cowboy neal's mama. Hell, I'm suing my mom too, she uses computers, I betcha she's up to no good.

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[Waffle Iron]

Good thing you posted that anonymously when using the U word. You were sure to be sued.

It's easy to talk about UNIX® ** without being sued. Just follow a few simple guidlines, and you can put UNIX® in your posts all day long. Let's try the original post with lawsuit-resistant terminology:

UNIX® become a generic term. Removing trademark status would benefit not only Apple, but the free UNIX®es, Linux and the BSDs.

** UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.

Re:Unix looks generic to me

[3Bees]

Be quiet or I shall be forced to say Unix to you a second time!

Re:Wow silly!

[bad_fx]

Dear Sir/Madam

In accordance with the notice requirements of 67 /. ÂÂ 1234(c) and 666(b), the undersigned parties, bad_fx and bad_fx, attorney(IANAL) and Slashdot reader, hereby provide notice to the you, AC, pursuant to the Slashdot no-typo Act, 58 B.S.D ÂÂ E=mc^2 et seq. , of the claim which is to be brought against you in respect of damages and injuries suffered by me as a result of the insistance of afore mentioned AC to mispell "thought."

As a result of the AC's gross neglect, on 12 June 2003, while reading slashdot, I sustained substantial personal psychological injuries and mental damage, the particulars of which will be set forth in a Statement Claim.

Kindly learn to type before others are hurt.

Sincerely,

Me

Re:You just have to laugh

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG...it's like a bad geek soap opera.

Next week: BSD gets amnesia and merges with its half-sibling Linux spawning two twin OSs, one of whom is prophesied to take over the world...one is evil, the other good...but who can tell the difference?

Like epoch seconds through NTP server, so are the Days of our Lives...

(For all who are confused right now, soap operas are these television programs aimed at housewives who stay home all day. They typically involve plot lines that are horribly far-fetched, filled with sex and exotic diseases...an odd combination, but I digress...and always end with some unanswered question)

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[cruppel]

Now wait, if "all things in the universe are now a part of Unix" does that make it the Unixverse?

Keep in mind though, that this new freeness does not affect the price.

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[andrewski]

No, it'll have to be GNU/nix pronounced "New-nix."

Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-:

[leonbrooks]

Judge scratches head, "you own what?"

Re:Jurassic Park

[Nexum]

For years I thought that all Unix machines involved hovering around in 3D over a virtual landscape of your files and folders...

Re:New slogan

[TheRaven64]

New Apple Slogan:
"Think Sued..."

This is to replace the existing 'Think Pseud'?

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[walt-sjc]

Yeah, but without bowel movements you would be quite uncomfortable. :-)

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[Anonymous Coward]

we can now market Windows as UNIX

No, that would actually be fraud. Even without the trademark status.

Re:UNIX: What's the first thing that comes to mind

[Anonymous Coward]

When someone asks you about "UNIX," what's the first thing that comes to mind?

# rm -rf /

among other misadventures that you just can't have on windows.

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[uncoveror]

How can any earth-based company claim trademark rights to an alien OS we got from the Roswell UFO? [uncoveror.com] Another curious question is why Microsoft bought a license from SCO when they have already used UNIX technology for mind control. [uncoveror.com]

Wednesday is

[bmckeever]

Help me remember:
Monday is patch your windows server day
Tuesday is patch your Linux box day
Wednesday is file a Unix lawsuit day?

Re:Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Yeah. 'Caus EVERYBODY knows SCO owns it!

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[JoeBuck]

If and when apple wins, GNU will stand for "GNU's Now Unix".

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[Lonath]

Except:

(GNU/Unix) = ((Gnu's)(Not)(Unix))/(Unix) = (Gnu's Not) = GN. WTF is a GN?

Re:Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-:

[PurpleRabbit]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Novell owns it.

Right?

[Scratches head some more.]

Oh please don't

[donscarletti]

SCO has been getting up people's arses enough already.

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[mcc]

According to logic, this gives us all things that are Unix and are not Unix is one package. Therefore, all things in the universe are now a part of Unix, and open source.

Young Nerd: What is UNIX?

Old Nerd: Unfortunately, no one can be told what UNIX is... They have to see it for themselves.

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[Gutboy_Barrelhouse]

WTF is a GN?

Something that gets ESR a little too excited.

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[Soul-Burn666]

By a GNU Nut, you mean RMS? :)

They forgot to read old Usenet postings..

[SiW]

..otherwise they'd have seen why the term UN*X was used.

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[torpor]

Dude. I'm having a movement right now, and frankly I'm finding it *very* Zen...

You mean the lawyer weighs the same as a duck?

[MichaelCrawford]

"He's an attorney! Burn him!"

Re:Generic? Golly, won't SCO be pleased! (-:

[Anonymous Coward]

"Eunechs, your honour"

I KNEW I'd heard this before...

[jpellino]

OG owns the name but not the stuff... SCO owns the stuff but not the name... Apple can't call it by its name but can use the stuff... AH! Yes! Mr. Carroll, care to comment?:

Alice could only look puzzled: she was thinking of the pudding.
`You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: `let me sing you a song to comfort you.'
`Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.
`It's long,' said the Knight, `but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else --'
`Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
`Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called "Haddocks' Eyes".'
`Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel interested.
`No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. `That's what the name is called. The name really is "The Aged Aged Man".'
`Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called"?' Alice corrected herself.
`No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called "Ways and Means": but that's only what it's called, you know!'
`Well, what is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.
`I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really is "A-sitting On a Gate": and the tune's my own invention.'

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[Big_Monkey_Bird]

1. Steal SCO code
2. Register Patent for One Click® UNIX®
3. Profit

* One Click is parented technology by Amazon.com Inc
** UNIX is a registered trademark...yada yada yada

I know why they are suing!!!

[Wild Bill Hickock]

if you go at http:\\www.opengroup.org on the left hand side of the page there is a little box that displays their sponsors. apple is not dipslayed as a sponsor !!! draw your own conclusions!!

Re:"GNU/Unix" has a nice ring to it

[Greedo]

No, no, no ...

You'll now have GNU (GNU's not Unix) and GOAT (GNU, on alternate Tuesdays).

O'Reilly should be pleased.

Re:Go, go, Apple, go!

[Hiro Antagonist]

...and the RIAA would be missing their greatest source for new hit music.