On 06/12/12 09:51 PM, Nathann Cohen wrote:
Mathematica is used for various financial purposes. In fact, I know it
is used more by the finance industry than most others. Given this, it
would never surprise me if someone wrote some financial applications
for Sage. At which point you will be in an almost impossible to defend
the name if it got into that field.
Honestly, that's really the point where laws become unsufferable....
Instead of being protected for as long as you do not try to hurt people
around, you end up having to leave with the fear of the law potentially
destroying honest work even though you never attempted to trick anybody.
They may become insufferable by you personally, but to other companies that own
intellectual property, they can see another product with the same name as a
threat. William has in the past admitted he has had people ask him for support
on the accounts package.
I know nobody has tried to trick anyone here. Unfortunately, what you are I
might think of the law does not matter a huge amount.
If we have to chose between a different name and an accounting feature, I
would gladly settle for refusing any patch for accounting and keeping our
belove Sage's name :-P
But financial modelling (stocks, shares etc) is a big part of Mathematics's
business. Here's a job not too far from me. It's a shame I don't know more about
the subject, as the salary is higher than I'm earning. (in USD, its around
$100,000). That said, I'd rather do what I do (design antennas) than that.
Quantitative Analyst - Hedge Fund in London £70k+
http://www.totallyexec.com/show_job.cgi?j=9253332&wt.mc_id=aggregator_Jobrapido
If someone started doing financial analysis in Sage, then the distinction
between the accounts package and the maths package would become far less clear,
even if that financial analysis was not actually accounts.
One other thing, what happens if you trademark it in the US, and
someone starts legal proceedings against users in the UK?
I suggest that we refuse any download request from UK connections in that
case :-D
But perhaps it could become more of an issue for people like John Cremona, who
are Sage developers based in the UK and works at a university in the UK (Warwick).
In some countries in the world, software piracy, trademark infringement are
basically ignored. I suspect there are countries which don't even have laws
against it. But there are plenty of countries outside the USA where these things
are taken more seriously - the UK being one of them.
Nathann
I'm not saying I agree with any of these potential lawsuits, but I do see them
as time-bombs.
Dave
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