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Re: Linux copyrighted by someone ?!



On Thu, 21 Aug 1997, Peter Lorand Peres wrote:
> 
> Here I am again.
> 
> There was this stupid rumor about Linux being copyrighted by someone.
> Because of it I put a stupid notice in linux-lp144 (single diskette
> distribution that I uploaded some time ago), about its NOT being Linux.
> Can someone please shed some light into the darkness so I can correct the
> durn thing before I upload V2 of that ? Detailed infos would be very
> helpful.

Linux is of course copyrighted (by Linus Torvals and others). Remember,
the GNU license doesn't revoke the copyrights of the author of the code -
it just makes sure that the users get all the freedom to do anything with
it.

Maybe you are talking about the "Linux" trademark issue, which was
successfully resolved yesterday (two days ago, considering the current
time). A guy named Della Croce registered the word "Linux" for himself in
'95 and then started asking the companies that sell Linux products for 10%
of their profits, because they use the word "Linux" which he apparently
owned. The companies submitted a petition to the US court and the story
ended on August 20th, '97 when Della Croce gave up the trademark to Linus
Torvalds. You can read about it at http://www.ssc.com/linux/trademark/ . 


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    Alex Shnitman <alexsh@linux.org.il>  //  http://alexs.home.ml.org
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