Linux Mark Institute

The Linux Mark Institute (LMI) is an organization which administers the "Linux" trademark on behalf of Linus Torvalds for computer software which includes the Linux kernel, computer hardware utilizing Linux-based software, and for services associated with the implementation and documentation of Linux-based products.

The Linux trademark is owned by Linus Torvalds in the U.S.,[1] Germany, the E.U., and Japan for "Computer operating system software to facilitate computer use and operation". The assignment of the trademark to Torvalds occurred after a lawsuit against attorney William R. Della Croce, Jr., of Boston, who had registered the trademark in the US in September 1995[2] and began in 1996 to send letters to various Linux distributors, demanding ten percent of royalties from sales of Linux products.[3] A petition against Della Croce's practices was started,[4] and in early 1997, WorkGroup Solutions, Yggdrasil, Linux Journal, Linux International and Torvalds appealed the original trademark assignment as "fraudulent and obtained under false pretenses".[4] By November, the case was settled and Torvalds owned the trademark.[2]

LMI originally charged a nominal sublicensing fee for use of the Linux name as part of trademarks,[3] but later changed this in favor of offering a free, perpetual worldwide sublicense.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Linux US trademark registration
  2. 1 2 Richardson, Marjorie (1 November 1997). "Ownership of Linux Trademark Resolved". Linux Journal (43).
  3. 1 2 Neil McAllister (2005-09-05). "Linus gets tough on Linux trademark". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  4. 1 2 Hughes, Phil (1 March 1997). "Action Taken on Linux Trademark". Linux Journal (35).
  5. ↑ "Linux Mark Institute". Retrieved 2008-02-24. LMI has restructured its sublicensing program. Our new sublicense agreement is: Free — approved sublicense holders pay no fees; Perpetual — sublicense terminates only in breach of the agreement or when your organization ceases to use its mark; Worldwide — one sublicense covers your use of the mark anywhere in the world

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.