Has there ever been a case in which a free software project trademarked a term entirely for defensive purpose and then released all exclusivity via a license?
For example if the term JavaScript were trademarked prior to Oracle's claim, and then released for all to use. The closest seems to be Linux, however even such a term will require a sublicense for several types of use, for example Debian does not use it, however Arch Linux does (assuming with a sublicense).
Braydon Fuller
npub1r0…7zzyc
2025-05-14 16:00:43
Author Public Key
npub1r0ulywwu593kzjdu9uluxdq80t54n65kql9vl9z7lrutkgnachssk7zzycPublished at
2025-05-14 16:00:43Event JSON
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"content": "Has there ever been a case in which a free software project trademarked a term entirely for defensive purpose and then released all exclusivity via a license?\n\nFor example if the term JavaScript were trademarked prior to Oracle's claim, and then released for all to use. The closest seems to be Linux, however even such a term will require a sublicense for several types of use, for example Debian does not use it, however Arch Linux does (assuming with a sublicense).\n\n",
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