[ale] Fwd: Ownership of U.S. LINUX (R) Trademark Resolved

[Dan Newcombe]

Darn - I was hoping they would have nailed certain body parts to the wall.

 From: Martin Michlmayr <tbm at cyrius.com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: Ownership of U.S. LINUX (R) Trademark Resolved

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Monterey, California, August 21, 1997.

A long standing dispute over ownership of the LINUX (®) operating system
trademark has just been resolved. As a result of litigation brought by
a group of five LINUX companies and individuals against William R. Della
Croce, Jr. of Boston, Massachusetts, Della Croce has assigned ownership
of the registered mark to Linus Torvalds, the original author of LINUX,
as part of a settlement agreement. 

The plaintiffs in the suit were Linus Torvalds; Specialized Systems
Consultants, Inc. (the "Linux Journal") of Seattle; Yggdrasil Computing,
Inc. in San Jose; Linux International, Amherst, NH; and Work Group
Solutions of Aurora, CO. Non-plaintiffs Red Hat Software, Inc., Metro
Link Inc., and Digital Equipment Corporation supported the litigation
and contributed to the cost of the litigation.

The five plaintiffs brought suit against Della Croce in the U.S.
Trademark Trial & Appeals Board, in November 1996. Della Croce had
obtained registration of the LINUX mark in September 1995, which created
a storm of protests by the LINUX community, who felt the mark belonged
to Torvalds or the LINUX community and not to any individual. In an
attempt to correct the situation, the plaintiffs retained the
internationally known intellectual property law firm of Davis & Schroeder
of Monterey, California, who handled the case on a greatly reduced fee
basis, as a service to the LINUX community.

The five plaintiffs, through their attorneys, announced today that (1)
the matter has been settled by the assignment of the mark to Linus
Torvalds, on behalf of all Petitioners and LINUX users, and the
dismissal with prejudice of the pending PTO Cancellation Proceeding; and
(2) that Respondent was reimbursed for his trademark filing fees and
costs by Petitioners. The other terms of the Settlement Agreement are
confidential.

"I am very pleased that the trademark is now in the hands of Linus
Torvalds, the originator of the Linux operating system," said Jon
"maddog" Hall, Executive Director of Linux International. Mr. Hall
stressed, "I am also pleased that the member companies of Linux
International worked together as a team with Linus and the law firm
of Davis and Schroeder to resolve the issue. This shows the type of
cooperation in the Linux community that Linux International would like
to foster worldwide."

All inquiries should be referred to Petitioners' law firm, Davis &
Schroeder at +1 408 649 1122 or by email at ggd at iplawyers.com. A copy
of the original Cancellation Petition filed in the TTAB, can be found
at http://www.iplawyers.com/text/linux.htm.

- -- 
Martin Michlmayr
tbm at cyrius.com
http://www.cyrius.com/tbm



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