The open-source generation gap

Is the notion of protecting trademarks not applicable in such a scenario? I submit that the blowback against such a nefarious caper would be brutal; the court of public opinion would NOT be pleased.

Trademarks have a "use/protect it or lose it" aspect to them. Copyright does not.

Taking the two sentences together, I believe he means protecting brands, not trademarks.

And I think it's irrelevant because the brands that practice such strategies don't stand for anything except maybe fear, so blowback just blows right by. I.e. if Acme Corporation tricks people into becoming dependent on its code and then demands royalties, Acme doesn't benefit from people having a positive impression of Acme - nobody's buying from Acme by choice.

A large company would have to be careful to separate that brand from any other business it does, but that is not hard.