programming language

UPDATE: In a March 22 press release, the PSF announced that the parties have reached an amicable resolution. According to the PSF, "Veber has withdrawn its trademark filing and has agreed to support the [PSF's] use of the term". Veber will rebrand its Python cloud server and backup services. For its part, Veber stated that its agreement with the PSF will "remove potential confusion between the Python software language and [Veber's] cloud services business".

The PSF's successful and efficient efforts to mobilize the Python community in its support undoubtedly had a significant effect on convincing Veber to settle the matter quickly.  

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By now, active observers of the open source world will have heard of the trademark dispute between the Python Software Foundation (PSF) and Veber, a small hosting company in the UK. As reported by the PSF, Veber recently decided it wished to use "Python" in certain branding of its products and services. Veber filed an EU community trademark application, claiming the exclusive right to use the "Python" mark for software, servers, and web services throughout the EU. The PSF (which obtained a registered trademark for "Python" in the US in 2004) is opposing Veber's trademark application.

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Last week the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the highest court in the European Union on matters of EU law, issued a judgment in the case of SAS Institute Inc. v. World Programming Ltd, C-406/10, which was referred to the court for a preliminary ruling by the UK's High Court of Justice for England and Wales, Chancery Division. » Read more

Can–or should–a programming language name be a trademark? The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the administrative board within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that adjudicates whether trademarks can be registered, recently decided that the word “Lua” was not a generic name for a programming language, but rather that the term referred to a particular proprietary language. Is it right though, that someone is allowed to exercise proprietary rights over a programming language name? » Read more