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SCO Applies for USL Trademark

SCO Applies for USL Trademark
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
July 30, 2004 12:00 AM EDT
Reads:
 16,350
For reasons it's not sharing at this point, on June 21 SCO applied for a trademark on the name Unix System Laboratories, which of course was the name of the AT&T unit that commercialized Unix and ultimately sold the OS to Novell.

SCO mumbled something about "brand equity" and said it definitely doesn't intend to change its name to USL. Apparently, the USL trademark was abandoned in 1993, when Novell bought Unix. Meanwhile, the hearing on IBM's motion to dismiss SCO's $5 billion suit against it has been moved from August 4 to September 15.

Published July 30, 2004 – Reads 16,350
Copyright © 2004 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara

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Most Recent Comments
Daniel Wallace 07/31/04 08:44:46 PM EDT

The "brand equity" remark tells me that
a lawsuit may be forthcoming against the
use of the trademark "Linux".

Linux closely resembles not only "Unix
System Laboratories" but also "UnixWare".

SCO will claim "Linux" deprecates their
brand equity.

Daniel Wallace
Scoove 07/31/04 10:23:21 AM EDT

H@ns writes:
"How come you didn't mention that The Open Grooup is going to fight the application?"

If you've read O'Gara's other articles on the SCO matter, you'll find that there isn't a lot of balance or objectivity overall. Either she's been motivated to assist SCO's public relations, or she just isn't very informed in the subject matter. If she's going to make a career at factual and objective technology newswriting, she needs to start understanding the full picture. In severe cases like this, some of the "intelligent but misguided" reporters do well to reread Milton's Areopagitica (or perhaps they skipped mass communications history in college) - this critical essay by Milton explained why one needs to present opposing views so they can "grapple" and allow truth to be separated from falsehood. I've yet to read an O'Gara article that grapples with anything (other than finding how to write an article pleasing to paid patrons, presumably).

Daily readings of groklaw.net would also help O'Gara expand on her foundation of data.
H@ns 07/30/04 11:34:19 AM EDT

Maureen,

How come you didn't mention that The Open Grooup is going to fight the application?

H@ns