So there has been another flare-up of the trademarking the word Linux in Australia idea. LA are getting some very mis-informed hate mail about how it is wrong to trademark the word Linux because it is wrong to charge for the use of the word Linux. I want to clarify something from my perspective:
- Do I think it is wrong for Linux Australia to trademark the word Linux? No. We are in dangerous times, and we need to ensure that the trademark is owned by a non-profit community organisation with a community elected committee to avoid a company trademarking the name and the either forcing people to pay for the name, or disallowing them to use it, which they would be well within their rights to do. Imagine we were not allowed to _use_ the word Linux because someone completely outside the community owned the trademark! SLUG for one would become TUFKASLUG (The Usergroup Formerly Known As SLUG).
- Do I think it is wrong to charge to use the word Linux? Yes. Life is hard enough for Linux companies in Australia without extra costs and I am personally not interested in charging for the use of the Linux name by companies. If LA owns the trademark then the community has the ability to stop someone using the word inappropriately, such as calling a company “Linux World” when they only sell proprietary systems or not allowing others to use the word at all. Having said that I can understand the LMI needing to charge to sublicence the Linux trademark, as they need funds to survive and to protect the name if is challenged, and thus if anyone _wants_ to sublicence the name and pay for it, rock on, you are supporting another worthy Linux project, however if you don’t want to pay for it and are using it appropriately then I personally feel this should be ok.
The confusion seems to be that people think owning a trademark is synonymous with charging for the use of it. This is not true. Owning a trademark in our case is as a protective measure and to retain credibility for the word.