Free Software And Trademarks

Posted Sep 1, 2005 13:54 UTC (Thu) by Alan_Hicks (guest, #20469)
In reply to: Free Software And Trademarks by MathFox
Parent article: Free Software And Trademarks

Distributing a trojaned browser is illegal, but who will be able to sue the one who did it? The victims and the Government. Govenment is slowly taking up proscecuting computer crimes, but will they spend time on bringing such cases to justice? (Expect international criminal investigations.)
With the Firefox trademark protection the Mozilla foundation has a stick to hit the perpretrators.

Indeed. In legal terms, this is called standing. Standing is literally "what you stand on". If some one shot your mother, her death is your standing to bring charges against the killer. If you downloaded a trojan horse and lost all your money, your financial loss is your standing to bring the case to trial. If some one makes a trojan horse and puts your trademarked name on it, you can stand on trademark infringement and shut them down before your good name is damaged beyond repair.

When I was young my father taught me this much:

Son, the most valuable thing in the world is your good name. It's the hardest thing to get, and the easiest to use, so you protect it.

This is only them protecting their good name.