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From: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: What should be added to C, call it PL/2
Message-ID: <1628@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-May-86 09:51:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.1628
Posted: Thu May 29 09:51:58 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 31-May-86 06:59:05 EDT
References: <36@mit-prep.ARPA>
Reply-To: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady)
Organization: Duke U Comp Ctr
Lines: 28
Keywords: trademark, copyright, PL/I
Summary: PL/2-PL/100 not protected names

In article <36@mit-prep.ARPA> x@mit-prep.ARPA (Dean Elsner) writes:
>Sorry, I don't think you can call it PL/2!
>IBM was going to call PL/1 "NPL" (New Programming Language?) until
>National Physical Laboratories told them not to. They then registered
>names PL/1 ... PL/100 (!). I don't think they reserved PL/0.
>I don't know what 'registered' means here, but I presume trademarked.
>This is from memory, and may be wrong.
>x@prep.ai.mit.edu (Dean Elsner)   Disclaimer: I am not me. Much. Often.

Sounds like an Urban Legend to me.  In the US it is not possible to
register a trademark until it has actually been used in trade.  Hence
stories of tobacco companies registering names like Acapulco Gold
against the possibility of legalized marijuana are, sadly, bogus.

On the other hand it is possible to register unused trademarks in other
countries.  Some Australians, for instance, make money by speculating in
trademarks.  If a new American company shows promise, they register the
name Down Under.  Then if the US firm wants to use its own trademark
there, it finds it must pay a royalty to some sneaky solicitor...
Perhaps PL/2 et al are already registered there.

I just had a vision of all these people at Australian Usenet sites
heading for Canberra to register C++.  What have I done...
-- 
D Gary Grady
Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-3695
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