Editorial
Who Owns It?
Trademarks receive much less media attention than patents or copyrights – at least in open source circles – but it looks like the trademark buzz might be heating up again with the recent
news that a company in China called Proview owns the name “iPad” and is preparing to throw down with Apple over the use of it. The fact that iPads are actually made in China adds urgency to this problem, with the company threatening to stop all exports until Apple settles.
Trademarks receive much less media attention than patents or copyrights – at least in open source circles – but it looks like the trademark buzz might be heating up again with the recent news that a company in China called Proview owns the name “iPad” and is preparing to throw down with Apple over the use of it. The fact that iPads are actually made in China adds urgency to this problem, with the company threatening to stop all exports until Apple settles. Like other intellectual property concepts, trademark issues can vary from the obvious to the arcane. You might think that vendors would strive for clarity and avoid the nebulous, undefined spaces that lurk within the IP landscape, but it seems that the companies with the largest and most powerful legal teams often intentionally seek out the gray areas and lay claim to no man’s land just to maximize the boundaries of their ownership.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
News
-
NixOS 21.11 Now Available for Download
NixOS “Porcupine” has been made available for installation and includes numerous improvements.
-
KDE Plasma Developers Introduce a GNOME-Like Overview
A new overview effect makes it easier for users to interact with both Plasma Activities and Virtual Desktops.
-
Rocky Linux 8.5 Now Available with Secure Boot Support
The latest iteration of CentOS alternative, Rocky Linux has arrived and includes numerous updates as well as support for Secure Boot.
-
System76 Developing a New Desktop Environment
The makers of Pop!_OS are currently in the early stages of creating a brand new, non-GNOME, desktop environment.
-
Hetzner Opens New Location in the USA
The Hetzner cost-effective Cloud solution has arrived in the United States to offer cloud servers that offer solid performance without a high price.
-
KDE Plasma 5.24 Introduces Fingerprint Reader Support
The next release of the KDE Plasma desktop environment will include support for fingerprint readers for session authentication and more.
-
Ubuntu 21.10 Released and Finally Includes Gnome 40
The most anticipated update to Ubuntu is finally here and the workflow couldn't be better.
-
Linux Can Now Run on Apple’s M1 Chipset
Linux users looking to take advantage of Apple Silicon are about to get their wish with the M1 chipset.
-
MX Linux 21 RC Candidate Available For Testing
The MX Linux development team has released the RC images for MX Linux 21 for testing purposes.
-
Fedora 35 is Shaping Up to Be an Impressive Release
Although the beta version of Fedora’s upcoming release is behind schedule, the Linux distribution is still slotted for October and will include numerous bug fixes and some exciting new features.