Re: Never ever use word BitKeeper if Larry does not like you

Murray J. Root
2003-03-14T11:09:05Z

On Fri, Mar 14, 2003 at 11:51:32AM +0100, Pavel Machek wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Never ever use word KitBeeper, Larry thinks he owns the world.
>
> The page originally said "Goal of this project is to create version
> managment system compatible with <prohibited word>".
>
> Pavel
>
> PS: I know forwarding personal message to the mailing list is not
> polite, but this is more of legal threat than personal message...
>
> PPS: About Toyota: I may not be able to call my company Toyota (if you
> have registered trademark in czech republic, which I doubt), but I'm
> sure able to say that my car contains same engine as Toyota
> 1234cdt. And as you named directory in the repository BitKeeper,
> there's no chance not to mention it.
>
> ----- Forwarded message from Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com> -----
>
> Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 20:21:54 -0800
> From: Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com>
> To: Pavel Machek <pavel@ucw.cz>
> Cc: Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com>
> Subject: Re: BitBucket: GPL-ed BitKeeper clone
> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i
>
> > Sorry, but I'm doing this on my own, this has nothing to do with SuSE.
>
> That's fine, I've taken it up with the sourceforge people. What you
> are doing is a violation of their terms of use and they'll get you
> to fix it, I don't care who fixes it, I want absolutely no reference
> to anything which can connect that work with BitKeeper. That's well
> with in our legal rights.
>
> As for it being on your own time, let's see if SuSE wants the negative
> publicity. I'm quite willing to make a stink, you've annoyed me and
> I've put up with as much as I'm going to.
>
> > I believe the wording above is okay; if you miss "BitKeeper is
> > trademark of BitMover" notice, I guess you can have that too. If you
> > want your lawyer to call me, my cellphone is +XXXXXXXXXXXX; if you
> > want to suggest alternate wording, just do that. But I believe saying
> > "compatible with (something)" is okay, and I can allways just misspell
> > it.
>
> No, you can't. Check into the case law. If there is any way to connect
> it to our product, it is within our rights to protect our brand. You
> can't call your new car company Toyotaa either, Toyota can sue and will
> if they think it infringes on their brand.
>
> You are quite welcome to write your own SCM. You may not take advantage
> of our work, check into the law.
> --
> ---
> Larry McVoy lm at bitmover.com http://www.bitmover.com/lm
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----

Ah, thanks, Pavel. I like to start the day with a bit of humor.

--
Murray J. Root