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Delivered-To: pcg AT goof DOT com
From: Andrew Crabtree <andrewc AT typhoon DOT rose DOT hp DOT com>
Message-Id: <199804211817.AA093652621@typhoon.rose.hp.com>
Subject: Re: PGCC is a registered trademark of The Portland Group, Inc.
To: beastium-list AT Desk DOT nl
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 11:17:01 PDT
Reply-To: andrewc AT rosemail DOT rose DOT hp DOT com
X-Mailer: Elm [revision: 109.16]
Sender: Marc Lehmann <pcg AT goof DOT com>
Content-Length: 2814
Lines: 55

Hey Guys - 

I would be very careful about copying messages to the Portland 
Group lady and just spouting off opinions.  Fact is (rightly or 
wrongly) they do hold a registered trademark on pgcc, and 
they can attempt to enforce it as well as attempting to get
reimbursed for legal fees!!!  

After being contacted a couple weeks ago by sheri I went to a trademark 
attorney to see what the legal aspects of this are.  First issue
I think is when did the pcg start using pgcc acronym, and what is the 
first used date on portlands group pgcc trademark.  Marc mentioned
that we might have been using it earlier, in which case if we wanted
to force the issue we could conceivably have their trademark revoked.
I haven't checked, but I think I can do a trademark search here 
if portland group won't give us the trademark info or first use data.  
If they give us the trademark info then we can look it up for free
on the web.

Second issue, is where the actual goof server is located.  If it 
is in US (which I think it is), then we have to worry about 
US trademark only.  If it is in some other country (germany say), then
we would have to worry about the European trademark program, or 
whatever other local one enforces these things.  I don't know yet
whether portland group has worldwide trademark on pgcc on only us.

> but could a free piece of software exist peacefully with commercial 
> software while sharing names?
No.

> I can't see how calling the Pentium GNU C  Compiler "PGCC" would 
> cause the Portland people to lose any market share.
Doesn't matter.  Assuming they started using pgcc before we did, then
legally they can bar us from using it.  The only time two items can have
the same trademark is when they are in vastly different product categories.

I think the easiest thing for us to do, is to probably change 
(as marc sugested) all references on the web site to say 
PentiumGCC instead of pgcc.  We could leave pgcc on the main page,
with a message saying "oh, perhaps you are looking for portland
group cc, here is a link" (or if we wanted to be real dicks we could
say "oh you are looking for portland group cc, but why?  Our product
is similar, but better, and doesn't cost you anything ..." :)

Andy

--
_______       ___________________________________________________________
           /                       	                  Andrew Crabtree 
          /                          	      Workgroup Networks Division 
         ____       ___  /                                Hewlett-Packard 
        /     /    /    /   		                    Roseville, CA 
     __/   __/    _____/                                     916/785-1675
                 /                           andrewc AT rosemail DOT rose DOT hp DOT com
___________   __/   _____________________________________________________