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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: djbdns: An alternative to BIND
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 [email protected] 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
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