Hard Hat Linux (fwd)

[ariel@oz.engr.sgi.com (Ariel Faigon)]

Hi,

I'm not sure if I should feel amused or saddened by this
email.  I'm not a lawyer, just curious of what would you
be doing in reponse.

Note that:
	The facts this email presents are inaccurate:

	1) We don't have any "product" on www.linux.sgi.com
	   just a free source distribution.
	2) His claim is ignoring the fact that "Linux" is
	   a trademark of Linus Torvalds which may invalidate
	   any claim to its derivatives by another party.
	3) We use "Hard Hat 5.1" as a humorous way to say
	   it is somewhat unstable release of Red Hat 5.1
	   in a casual way in one title.
	4) We never use the term "Hard Hat Linux".

I guess the question is whether our very innocent and casual
use of the phrase "Hard Hat" in one web page and without any
product connotation constitutes trademark infringement.


Forwarded message:
:From maurice@harddata.com  Sat Dec 12 12:23:42 1998
:Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981212132336.00a0ecb0@209.207.211.2>
:X-Sender: mhilariu@209.207.211.2
:X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32)
:Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 13:23:36 -0700
:To: adevries@engsoc.carleton.ca
:From: Maurice Hilarius <maurice@harddata.com>
:Subject: Hard Hat Linux
:Cc: ariel@sgi.com
:Mime-Version: 1.0
:Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
:
:Good day Gentlemen.
:
:One of our customers pointed us to your webpage:
:http://www.linux.sgi.com/manhattan/
:
:We wish to inform you that the names "Hard Hat" and "Hard Hat Linux" are
:copyrighted names and registered trademarks of Hard Data Ltd., Of Edmonton,
:Alberta, Canada.
:
:We ask that you please use another name for your project, as we can not
:permit this use of the brand name and trademark "Hard Hat Linux".
:We suspect that this usage was probably not designed to harm our tradmark,
:but we still can not permit it to be used, especially without our express
:permission.
:
:If there are any questions please contact Maurice Hilarius of Hard Data
:Ltd. at the address and/or telphone numbers listed in the signature (below).
:
:Seasons Greetings.
:
:Best regards,
:
:  Maurice W. Hilarius                   Telephone: 01-403-414-9319
:  Hard Data Ltd.                      **FAX:       01-403-456-1510
:  11060 - 166 Avenue                    email:maurice@harddata.com
:  Edmonton, AB, Canada  - T5X 1Y3       http://www.harddata.com
:  
:


-- 
Peace, Ariel