[oe] Linuxworld San Fransisco

[Nils Faerber]

Gerwin van der Kruis schrieb:
> On Friday 29 June 2007 13:51, Florian Boor wrote:
>> Hi,
Hi!

>> Gerwin van der Kruis schrieb:
>>> Is it maybe possible to join with hh.org ?
>> I would not recommend this for several reasons:
>> - OE is not hosted at hh.org any more for good reasons.
>> - We do not know what hh.org is really about, but what we know is that they
>> try to force projects becoming some kind of "hh.org product".
>> - George from hh.org has been quite hostile and unfriendly in the public
>> lately. I would not want to see OE in any relationship with this guy.
>>
>> Another reason would be the GPE trademark fight going on currently.
>> There is a quite good summary here:
>> http://www.linux.com/articles/114310?tid=41
>>
>> Opie is affected as well... its easy to find more reasons to stay away from
>> hh.org. its a pity, but unluckily current reality :-(
> 
> This what's making me angry why should somebody own opie or gpe other than 
> the respective developers who worked on it . 

Yep.
But US trademark law, and in fact very simimarly EU law, makes it legal
to do so. And for us as non-profit project and even not being a defined
group of people or entity it is very hard to proove the contrary or
object to such claims.
Trademarks are only concerned about "trade" as the word suggests. But
what is "trade" in the sense of open source projects?

> As said the trademark is only valid for the united states , so handhelds.org 
> has no right to claim anything in Europe. 

Pitily this is not completely true since George applied for an
international mark, so once it is assigned he could in theory also sue
people outside the US.
If or if not he does really do so is at least questionable. But he would
have the right to do so.

> I understood completly what you are saying florian and maybe it is an idea to 
> make an official statement about it . 

I am not sure here... This might just end in putting additional oil on
the fire. I fear best way to handle it is to not publically discuss this
anymore.
We now have to see how we can object to the registration. This will
probably involve having to hire an attorney and paying fees (estimate is
at least US$300 for US-Pat-Office fees plus atorney :(

> I also read on handhelds.org that he is quoting you. 

... and always just as they see fit :(
They usually leave out a lot of information...

> So I will not get in touch with handhelds.org. Ruben is owning opie.nl
> and probarly gpe.nl as well. 

Thanks!

> Regards, 
> Gerwin 
Cheers
  nils faerber

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