[Info-vax] [Attn: HP Employees] PDP-11 OS hobbyist licensing

[Paul Sture]

In article <l2j384$9am$2 at online.de>,
 helbig at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de (Phillip Helbig---undress to reply) 
 wrote:

> In article <6cf302b2-950d-4472-9fed-208e353c517a at googlegroups.com>, AEF
> <spamsink2001 at yahoo.com> writes: 
> 
> > Hmmm. I think there is a bit of use it or lose it for at least _some_
> > things. Sometimes you see "Esso" stickers on Exxon gas pumps. Exxon
> > doesn't want to lose the rights to Esso. I was told they have to do this
> > or the name goes up for grabs. My brother-in-law's father told me of a
> > client (or friend, perhaps) who kept paying for the right to a name for
> > a business, even though the business closed. The guy just wants to hold on
> > to the rights to that name. He has to pay something like $50 or $150 a
> > year in fees. Of course I'm not talking hardware and software here. OK,
> > you said it isn't necessarily so. Just mentioning a couple of cases where
> > it _is_ so, AFAIK.
> 
> First, please find some usenet software which quotes properly.  :-|
> 
> As already mentioned, your example involves a trademark, not a 
> copyright.
> 
> By the way, the name "Esso" is still used in some countries.

I didn't realise this until I read a book about the oil industry: "Esso" 
originally stood for Standard Oil.

-- 
Paul Sture

IBM's Thomas J. Watson predicted a "world market for maybe five computers".
Given the way this whole Cloud thing is going, he might have been extremely
prescient.