'Australian companies providing Linux products and services may soon have to pay up to $A5000 a year to licence the operating system name ... if the patents agency IP Australia grants a trademark application it is reviewing.

About 90 companies with products, services or websites containing the word "Linux" recently received letters of demand from Perth lawyer Jeremy Malcolm. Acting for user group Linux Australia Inc, he asks recipients to sign statements saying their use of the word is subject to the group's licence agreement, which has fees of $A200 to $A5000 under a successful trademark application.'

My Take: this looks to be little more than a defensive application designed to protect the Linux mark, rather than any real attempt to extort money from the free software movement. Of course, the open source zealots are still likely to be up in arms about what they perceive to be propertisation of communal intellectual resources.

Originally by ScuttleMonkey at Slashdot: Your Rights Online, 12:14 PM

Read more