"Open Source" trademark consultation

[Richard Bullington]

On Fri, 26 Feb 1999, J.H.M. Dassen wrote:

> According to http://www.spi-inc.org/news/1998/19981124 :
> >The consultation period will end at midnight at the end of the calendar
> >year 1998, UTC. All consultation responses will be made public by SPI after
> >the consultation period has closed, unless the respondent specifically
> >requests otherwise. 
> 
> I have seen no responses made public yet, nor any statement from SPI
> regarding the "Open Source" trademark situation [snip]
> 
> In short, the "Open Source" trademark situation is still a mess, and there's
> a distinct possibility of it getting even messier, and I've seen no signs of
> activity by SPI to untangle this mess since the announcement I quoted
> earlier.

I agree with Mr. Dassen regarding the urgency of resolving this situation.
Inaction by SPI will only increase the anxiety many people are
feeling about this matter.

Given the lack of public comment about the trademark, despite early
promises of action, it would seem that the disposition of the mark is not
really important to SPI. I, for one, would like to see the trademark
managed actively and without dispute. While the community is divided over
this issue, education and outreach about Open Source will retain the taint
of the dispute.


----
 Richard L. Bullington III  <rbulling at microstate.com>
 Chief Technology Officer, The Microstate Corporation
 Phone: 703-591-9797  URL: http://www.microstate.com/
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