Mandriva settles Hearst litigation [LWN.net]

From:		Jacques Le Marois <investors-AT-mandriva.com>
To:		lwn-AT-lwn.net
Subject:		Mandriva settle Hearst litigation
Date:		Mon, 18 Jul 2005 17:08:34 +0200 (CEST)

Dear Shareholders,

Mandriva (formely Mandrakesoft) today definitively settled the
litigation it had with Hearst Publications and Kingfisher Syndicate. 
This litigation concerned the "Mandrake The Magician" character and had 
being going on since 2000. The settlement, for an undisclosed amount, 
will result in an exceptionnal profit for the current fiscal year. 
Financial details will be made available with our yearly financial results.

Sincerely yours,

Jacques Le Marois 

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to post comments

exceptional?

Posted Jul 19, 2005 3:01 UTC (Tue) by etymxris (guest, #30811) [Link] (1 responses)

What do they mean by "exceptional". Does that mean a one time loss or one time gain?

exceptional?

Posted Jul 19, 2005 3:13 UTC (Tue) by TwoTimeGrime (guest, #11688) [Link]

They said "profit" which means gain.

Mandriva settle Hearst litigation

Posted Jul 19, 2005 6:24 UTC (Tue) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link] (1 responses)

Isn't that King Features Syndicate?

Mandriva settle Hearst litigation

Posted Jul 19, 2005 10:44 UTC (Tue) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link]

Isn't that King Features Syndicate?

Part of Hearst Holdings, as seen on their statement about the case (an old that does not mention any settlement): http://www.kingfeatures.com/pressrm/rel_157_24_2_2004.htm

Mandriva settle Hearst litigation

Posted Jul 19, 2005 7:58 UTC (Tue) by hingo (guest, #14792) [Link] (1 responses)

They got money from the cartoon? That was at least not expected. I'd ruly be interested in more details...

Mandriva settle Hearst litigation

Posted Jul 19, 2005 9:07 UTC (Tue) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link]

Disclaimer: IANAA (I am not an accountant). Neither am I familiar with
Mandriva's books or this case. However, from what I understand...

> They got money from the cartoon?

Not necessarily. They could have gotten money, or, perhaps more likely,
they had set aside a legal bond to cover the case. Courts often require
this, sometimes instead of a preliminary cease and desist on the contested
item, which in this case would have meant Mandrake would have had to stop
using the term immediately. Even if the courts don't require it,
corporations often create such reserves on their own, as part of their
financial responsibilities to stock holders and as a demonstration of good
faith to the court, in ordered to cover potential future liabilities if
they lose. Among other things, voluntarily setting aside such a reserve
allows a company to choose when to do so, claiming the expense when it's
relatively convenient to them to do so, instead of having it hit all at
once at a likely very bad time.

Then, once the litigation is settled, any money in excess of the actual
settlement amount remaining in the reserve is then freed for use by the
company once again. Because the money was expensed when it was put in the
reserve, it now shows up as a one-time profit on the books. I'd expect
this to be the case here, altho it remains possible there /was/ an actual
cash payment from Hearst, possibly to cover part of Mandriva's legal
expenses, since they are now settling. That would of course be most
likely if Mandrake's chances of winning, were it taken all the way in
court, were even money or better.

Duncan

Mandrivel litigation

Posted Jul 20, 2005 15:16 UTC (Wed) by neoprene (guest, #8520) [Link] (2 responses)

The Mandrake is a plant, know at least since the time of Pliny the elder.
Taking household- and dictionary words and claiming some kind of innovatiotion or copyright is bizarre. The cartoon character with a "stolen" name can unlikely be damaged by a software company with the same "stolen" name. Have these lawyers smoked too much of the mandrake root?

http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/mandrake.htm

Mandrivel litigation

Posted Jul 20, 2005 16:29 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link]

The cartoon character with a "stolen" name can unlikely be damaged by a software company with the same "stolen" name.

Quite true. Unfortunatelly Mandrake logo used pictures of magic wand similar to magic wand used by "Mandrake The Magician" and not pictures of Mandrake's root...

Mandrivel litigation

Posted Jul 21, 2005 9:05 UTC (Thu) by jansson (subscriber, #2227) [Link]

If I remember correctly (last year?) a Linux distribution was made to change their name since a part of its old name meant "a solid hole in the wall". A largish company claims to own this part of the name and forced the change in court. I belive they now are known as Linspire, and the "name" was used inside and outside the OS community long before they trademarked it, so maybe old usage does not matter..

Mandriva settle Hearst litigation

Posted Jul 20, 2005 16:25 UTC (Wed) by xorbe (guest, #3165) [Link]

Too bad LWN no longer receives the Mandriva newsletter probably...