djbdns: An alternative to BIND

Tue Apr 12 16:49:16 UTC 2005

On Mon, Apr 11, 2005 at 01:27:26PM -0400, Dean Anderson wrote:
> BIND is an acronym of Berkeley Internet Name Daemon.  I've heard that
> Vixie claims a trademark on this, but it seems rather like the linux
> trademark issue of a few years ago. I didn't hear that they purchased the
> copyright from the University of California.  So, I don't think it is his
> to trademark, and it was a common term in use well before ISC existed.  
> ISC didn't write BIND, but has only maintained and modified it over the
> years.  They own modifications, at most.
> 
> But even if they did purchase the copyright from Berkeley, we are talking
> about what amounts to packet signatures. Fair use allows one to create
> interoperable products. [DMCA 1201(f), I think].

You can't "purchase a copyright" to a trademark, Dean.

If someone already *holds* a trademark -- something one gets by
*activity of commerce*, you can purchase a *license* to use it.

So yes, arguably, ISC could hold a trademark on "BIND", if they chose
to enforce it; the other usages of it were not *in commerce*.  The
people *using* it previously would probably be construed to hold a
licence by easement, since they were already using it (albeit not in
commerce), but IANAIPL.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
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