[79626] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: djbdns: An alternative to BIND
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jay R. Ashworth)
Tue Apr 12 13:07:57 2005
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 12:49:16 -0400
From: "Jay R. Ashworth" <jra@baylink.com>
To: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0504111252080.14707-100000@localhost.localdomain>; from Dean Anderson <dean@av8.com> on Mon, Apr 11, 2005 at 01:27:26PM -0400
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
On Mon, Apr 11, 2005 at 01:27:26PM -0400, Dean Anderson wrote:
> BIND is an acronym of Berkeley Internet Name Daemon. I've heard that
> Vixie claims a trademark on this, but it seems rather like the linux
> trademark issue of a few years ago. I didn't hear that they purchased the
> copyright from the University of California. So, I don't think it is his
> to trademark, and it was a common term in use well before ISC existed.
> ISC didn't write BIND, but has only maintained and modified it over the
> years. They own modifications, at most.
>
> But even if they did purchase the copyright from Berkeley, we are talking
> about what amounts to packet signatures. Fair use allows one to create
> interoperable products. [DMCA 1201(f), I think].
You can't "purchase a copyright" to a trademark, Dean.
If someone already *holds* a trademark -- something one gets by
*activity of commerce*, you can purchase a *license* to use it.
So yes, arguably, ISC could hold a trademark on "BIND", if they chose
to enforce it; the other usages of it were not *in commerce*. The
people *using* it previously would probably be construed to hold a
licence by easement, since they were already using it (albeit not in
commerce), but IANAIPL.
Cheers,
-- jra
--
Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com
Designer Baylink RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates The Things I Think '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 647 1274
If you can read this... thank a system administrator. Or two. --me
