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Unix Operating Systems Software

UNIX.com On eBay? 135

Posted by CmdrTaco from the can-I-have-malda@unix.com? dept.
rbuysse writes "Just browsing around, and I ran across that unix.com is going to be put up for sale! Starting 5/11, it is going to be auctioned off on eBay". Pretty sweet domain name... How much do you think it'll go for?
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UNIX.com On eBay? More

UNIX.com On eBay?

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  • Some troll out there will buy Unix.com for a million bucks, and then show they have millions of hits on their site and then have an IPO and become a multimillionare, even without any substance on their site
  • You've found the hidden slashdot poll!!!

    It appears that for every redundant article Taco lists on Slashdot, some new info gets hidden away such as this poll.

    E-mail postmaster@unix.com to claim your prize.
  • I got to this poll through the "Past Polls" page.It wasn't on the front page (the last one is still there.)
    Strange or what?
  • I'ts going to go for a hell of a lot more now that it's been on Slashdot. I wonder if Malda has any monatary intrest in it. Slashdot has gotta be great free advertising for it.
  • One (1) rolodex of BOFH excuses, containing at the least, 365 unique excuses
    Two (2) litres of Jolt Cola
    One (1) lb of Blue Mountain coffee
    Three (3) crossover cables
    And a bound edition of the Rainbow series of books.

    (j/k, btw. I don't have printed rainbow books. D'ya think I could pull this bid off if I did, tho?)
  • Doesn't AT&T still technically OWN the tradmark Unix(tm).

    Looks like somebody is buckin to get his ass sued......

  • Trademarks? (Score:3)

    by MaximumBob ( 97339 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @09:45AM (#1111530)
    Um, UNIX is a trademarked word. I wouldn't pay very much for the domain name, since you might have to surrender it in court.
  • I know how much it's going to sell for:

    100 BILLION DOLLARS!!!

    Sorry. Couldn't resist. :P

  • is "Unix" not a target for an AT&T cybersquatting lawsuit?

  • It's worth?? (Score:3)

    by AustenDH ( 157687 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @09:46AM (#1111533)

    U * N * I * X * . * C * O * M =
    85 * 78 * 73 * 88 * 46 * 67 * 79 * 77 =
    $798,490,055,082,720.00

    That's right baby!

  • (i know - faux pas replying to yourself)

    If memory serves, AT&T sold Unix(tm), to Novell, who then sold it to SCO (?).

    Anyway - it's an owned and established tradmark. Bad Karma.
  • For the record, a search at the Patent Office's web site, reveals that Union Metals in fact owns the trademark, oddly enough. I'm just tacking this on to make my post somewhat less redundant, since two other people mentioned it was trademarked while I was posting. ;)

  • Here is the current whois entry (Score:3)

    by Cy Guy ( 56083 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @09:49AM (#1111536) Homepage Journal
    Registrant:
    unix.com inc. (UNIX-DOM)
    218 Cherokee Road
    Hendersonville, TN 37075

    Domain Name: unix.com

    Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
    Bass, Tim (TB7) bass@SILKROAD.COM
    218 Cherokee Road
    Hendersonville, TN 37075
    (703) 222-4243

    Record last updated on 04-Jan-1997.
    Record expires on 19-Nov-2000.
    Record created on 18-Nov-1993.
    Database last updated on 23-Apr-2000 20:01:21 EDT.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    NS.SILKROAD.COM 198.133.151.18
  • I think if it was "hidden", they wouldn't have put it on the side of the article...

    kwsNI
  • It all depends on what kind of dip. Is it sour cream and onion? ranch? fermented? We need DETAILS people! This purchase can single-handedly change the entire course of history, and they don't even tell us if it's Hidden Valley or Shenadoah's Pride!? STOP THE INSANITY! How can anyone even consider making such an important financial decision with so little important information. Enquiring minds have a right to know. Someone could go into this deal expecting high-quality onion-dip and come out with some generic stuff. What happened to the spirit of open source?

    /*--Why can't I find the QNX OS on any warez sites?
    * (above comment useless as of 4-26-2000)
    */

  • Could mean some bucks for The Open Group, too (Score:3)

    by orpheus ( 14534 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @09:50AM (#1111539)
    The real question is: "How much will The Open Group" get out of the deal? (I read that they hold the trademark [unix-systems.org] on Unix(TM) now.

    It doesn't seem that the seller is OpenGroup (I can't confirm this, my whois is crapping out, but the DNS is CAIS and SILKROAD), but any commercial owner (or computer-related owner) will have to negotiate with OpenGroup to use the domain at all.


    __________

  • I'm afraid that given current US cybersquatting law, and the fact that the Open Group [unix-systems.org] now has title to the UNIX* trademark, anyone bidding on 'unix.com' had better be clear about their rights to use it before bidding.

    *UNIX is no longer a trademark of AT&T Bell Labs.

  • UNIX(.com) Wizard (Score:4)

    by Trollmastah ( 129873 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @09:52AM (#1111541)
    Ever since I heard of Unix
    I've always had a ball,
    From SunOS to Minix
    I must have run 'em all
    But I ain't seen nothing like him
    On systems large or small
    That tired, squinting, blind kid
    Sure makes a mean sys call!

    He sits like a statue,
    Becomes part of the machine,
    Feeling all the limits,
    Knows what the signals mean
    Hacks by intuition
    His process never stalls,
    That tired, squinting blind kid
    Sure makes a mean sys call!

    He a Unix Wizard,
    I just can't get the gist
    A Unix wizard's
    Got such a mental twist

    How do you think he does it?
    I don't know!
    What makes him so good?

    Ain't got no distractions
    Don't hear no beeps or bells
    Don't see no lights a flashin'
    Ignores his sense of smell
    Patches running kernels
    Dumps no core at all,
    That tired, squinting and blind kid
    Sure makes a mean sys call!

    I thought I was
    The process table king,
    But I just handed
    My root password to him.

    Even on my favorite boxen,
    His hacks can beat my best.
    The network leads him in,
    And he just does the rest.
    He's got crazy Finger servers
    Never will seg-fault...
    That tired, squinting karma whore
    Sure makes a mean sys call!

  • Maybe Bill will Buy It (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I say Bill will buy it! And if we're fortunate, AT&T will sue him too!!!
  • For the record, a search at the Patent Office's web site, reveals that Union Metals in fact owns the trademark, oddly enough.

    Remember that several companies can own the same trademark, as long as they do different things. IIRC The Open Group owns the Unix trademark with regard to operating systems. And in fact if someone created a "Unix Burgers" restaurant, or something, I'm pretty sure they could trademark it and use the unix.com domain. I'm not to familiar with cybersquatting laws tho...
  • I'll see your bid and raise you a small arsenal of koosh guns from ThinkGeek [thinkgeek.com] and one stuffed tux.

    /*--Why can't I find the QNX OS on any warez sites?
    * (above comment useless as of 4-26-2000)
    */
  • If The Open Group owns the registered trademark for Unix then they could easily sue Vannoy Heights Trust (the peeps auction the site off) for domain name squating and get it back for free.

    So I guess it's a trick question. The ANSWER is:
    The Open Group is going to get the domain back for FREE. :)

    You can find more info about The Open Group here [opengroup.org]. And you can learn about what trademarks they own here [opengroup.org].
  • Thats what it will sell for... Although of course the "lawful" holders of the trademark may choose to pay the guy now instead of feeding their lawyers:) It really depends on what would be more expensive.
  • before you bid on it, you might look into the legality of trying to use if for a software site... it's a trademark registered to Unix System Laboratories, Inc [uspto.gov].

    However, you could buy it and squat on it hoping to sell it to an ophthamologist [uspto.gov] :)

  • It might be interesting to see how Microsoft [microsoft.com] reacts to this. I understand they offered a great deal of money for linux.com [linux.com] when it was for sale. I was recently at the Boeing [boeing.com]/Microsoft [microsoft.com] technical lookahead and they see Sun as their primary competitor. Perhaps Unix.com [unix.com] is in their strategic plan. Sounds like Sun [sun.com] should be the primary customer for this...
    --
    Quantum Linux Laboratories - Accelerating Business with Linux
    * Education
    * Integration
    * Support
  • I own amazing.com . Had it for years, ran my personal web site. Right now, my site is "between servers", so it might not be a bad time to sell.

    Has anyone tried selling a high-value name, and if so, what was the experience like?

    D

    ----
  • More importantly, Tim Bass would qualify as a geek: From the silkroad.com website: Tim Bass, President of Silk Road Education * Graduate Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics * B.S.E, Tulane University, School of Engineering, 1987 Magna Cum Laude, Departmental Honors, Electrical Engineering Affiliations * Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, IEEE * IEEE Technical Committee on Security and Privacy * Armed Forces Communications and Engineering Association * Association of Computing Machinery * Internet Engineering Task Force, IETF A contractor geek, but still a geek.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I thought slashdot invented unix..doesn't this mean they own the rights to the domain? obviously this story was posted so that slashdot could claim the domain for themselves as the legal owners, and then with all this attention they'd re-sell it and buy AOL.
  • DAMN!! beat me too it..
    long live Dr. Evil!!!
    --DV

  • unix.com (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Shouldn't unix.com be open-source? They need to give it away to anyone who needs a domain name, and have content contributed based on merit. No single entity should license unix.com. After all, we know what AT&T did for unix.com licensing...
  • Koosh guns?!? Bah.. I'll see that bid and up you one complete set of System 3000 manuals, a 1980 AMC Eagle wagon with a blown clutch pack and a tick in #6, and the loose change in my watchpocket. (About a buck fifty US)
  • wait so...if i really wanted this url, and i didnt want to pay anything, i should go register "unix lemonade stand", sell some people a few cups of lemonade to ensure they think its a real biz. THEN AFTER the auction, just go up to the person who bought it and make them turn it over to me because officially, i'm allowed to own that website? wow...loopholes are cool.

  • Re:Hello.... AT&T (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Nah, it's currently in the hands of the Bastard Consortium (aka The Open Group).

  • It looks like unix is OK but UNIX is not (Score:3)

    by Cy Guy ( 56083 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @10:13AM (#1111558) Homepage Journal
    The Open Group's Trademark Usage Guide [unix-systems.org] seems to only consider UNIX written in all caps as the trademark. So perhaps as long as it is written as either unix, or Unix, or unix.com there is no infringement.

    Also, I know some cybersqauters have been allowed to register trademarks that include the .com when the word used in the second level of the domain is already a registered tradmark not related to the internet.

    Finally, SCO [sco.com] has trademarks on several terms with Unix (using an initial capital U) such as UnixWare, which may also indicate that the consistent use of unix.com wouldn't violate the Open Group's trademark.

  • sweet one man.
    where do you come up with this stuff?

    --DV
  • I know this is completely ignorant, but why should anyone get millions of dollars for this domain. No one needed it before? 'Stop the senseless domain name craze.'

  • Ebay won't allow the auction (Score:5)

    by adam_megacz ( 155700 ) <{moc.zcagem} {ta} {mada}> on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @10:18AM (#1111561)

    Well, unix.com [unix.com] is slashdotted, so for this post I'll assume that it is not being sold by Open Group [opengroup.org], the rightful owners [opengroup.org] of the trademark on the name "unix".

    The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999 [loc.gov] amends current trademark law to encompass domain names, and has already been tested [apbnews.com] in the courts. This bill would make registration, use, or sale of the domain by anyone other than the Open Group a crime, and I'm pretty sure that eBay would halt the auction (according to their current policies [ebay.com])


  • Open Group owns the Unix trademark [unix-systems.org]

    Trademark Usage Guide [unix-systems.org](PDF Format)


    Please note:

    It must not be used as a generic term.

    It must not be used in connection with products, unless the product is licensed to use the mark.

    There are detailed guidelines referring to the visual presentation, form and manner of use.

    In editorial or articles, but not advertising the trade marks may be used without prior permission - provided that the rules in our Trademark Usage Guide [unix-systems.org] are followed.

    I better get some karama for this dammit ;)
  • So he can't buy it....

    Maybe Larry Ellison?

  • 1) You could only use the trademark with regards to the lemonade stand -- you couldn't get the trademark on Unix Lemonade and then use it to sell computers

    2) In order to get the domain taken away from someone, the effective date on your trademark would have to be earlier than the "record created on" date on the domain's whois record. Now, if you can prove that you've been selling Unix Lemonade since January 18, 1976, then you could have that date as the effective date even if you don't register it until next week (the name of your company and your products are your trademarks even if you don't register them -- registration just makes it easier to defend them).

    ========

  • He didn't. Jamie Mason is credited with that one, w/ additions by Wayne Throop. This parody -- and others like at -- are at LEAST 9 years old, as it's archived in a post

    From: hanssgen@ira.uka.de (Stefan Haenssgen)
    Date: 18 Dec 91 14:53:37 GMT
    Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
    Subject: Computer Songs & Poems Collection follows in 5 parts

    Merry Xmas!

    This is the COMPUTER SONGS COLLECTION V1.0, containing songs and poems about computers.

    [snip]
  • LMAO! You hit on this one! Perfect, bravo! You really need to get these organized and up on a website.

  • OK,

    unix.com is cool. Registering is much cooler. And then, what?

    You don't get much traffic with just a cool domain name. You have to use marketing!

    And with marketing you can push any domain name. If the domain name isn't cool, marketing will make it cool.

  • It is not of such great importance what you or I think it is worth. The people who matter are the people selling it. If I understand Ebay correctly, you can set the initial value and/or reserve price. I would love to know what is the reserve price they are setting for it. If it had not been /.ed, it probably would have never met their (arrogant?) reserve.

    Now that it has been /.ed, it will probably be hard to tell what it finally goes for. Remember the company selling the Russian subs? They were so swamped with phony bids after the publicity they got, that it was hard to nail down a serious bidder. I bet the current owners will be unhappy with whatever result they get.

    -L

  • Re:It looks like unix is OK but UNIX is not (Score:3)

    by jbarnett ( 127033 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @10:30AM (#1111569) Homepage

    From the Trademark Usage Terms [unix-systems.org] it clearly states "It must not be used as a generic term."

    If this site put up unix.com [unix.com] as a be-all *nix site, this this /might/ be in voliation of that (depening on how much the Open Group is willing to spend on lawyers).

    Also it could be agrued (not by me) that domain names are case insenitive and there isn't really any way to tell the differance between UNIX.COM [unix.com] and unix.com [unix.com], which could be taken as a voliation of the (all caps) UNIX trademark
  • Not his.

    Here's a gzipped copy of the collection he took it from.

    computer.songs. gz [cmu.edu]

    Not mine, either. See inside for attributions.
  • I see your Eagle wagon and raise you one AMC Pacer hatchback with ...wait, that doesn't need elaboration. It's blue.
  • When my friend told me about this, I though he said that "www.eunuchs.com" was up for sale. I immediately went to the bank and gave them a convincing argument about why they should loan me to money to get the site.

    Now I'm sitting here with $400,000 burning a hole in my pocket, and no website for me and my kind!

    D'oh!

    :o)

  • Congratulations. You now seem to be posting at 0, meaning you've somehow pulled yourself out of the -2 cellar. I never understood how you got there in the first place, since your posts all seem to be pretty good.

    I wonder how much this website [networksolutions.com] would be worth?


  • Really, pay a million dollars for a domain name that costs what, $75 for 2 years from Internic?

    Just make up a name and save 1 miilion dollars, for stuff like oh, servers, bandwidth, web developers, those "extra's" that go with a web site...

    I am curious though as what it will go for. I wonder what beta.slashdot.org would go for?
  • Sounds like a great way for MSFT to make Judge Jackson get REALLY angry. Somehow, I doubt he'd appreciate it if they had the audacity to try...

    ...then again, if it colored his judgement to the point where it made it easier to win on appeal due to provoking him into an excessive penalty, who knows?

    *shrug*
  • I've never done it, so I can't say for sure. However, I will say that in general cyber-squatters are seen as lower forms of life. The fact that you've owned & used your domain for some time will be lost on those who villify cyber-squatters.

    I know that with my two domain names, dolnick.com and famille.org, I've had groups e-mail me accusing me of cyber-squatting (even though I run legit public web pages on them) simply because they wanted the name. Some French company even roundaboutly offered to open their wallet for famille.org.

    Me, I probably wouldn't sell them. If I really had to sell them, I would probably try doing an e-bay auction and give the proceeds to charity, and clearly advertise that fact. Even if you need the money, you could say something like 50% of the proceeds go to charity. You get a nice tax write-off and then you can even post your auction on Slashdot with a good conscience! (Who knows, maybe Rob will post your story twice... :-)
  • IIRC, from NSI's rules, the .com is not considered when resolving trademark infringements. So if you own the trademark on unix.com, you can't go after a squatter that has unix.com via NSI's arbitration. In the same way you can't claim that you are using it as unix.com to get out of a trademark dispute with someone who own the unix trademark.

    However in regular court it could go either way.
  • Well, he registered this thing in 1993. I should hope no lawyer could come around and say he all of the sudden can't sell a site that he's had for that long.

    Registrant:
    unix.com inc. (UNIX-DOM)
    218 Cherokee Road
    Hendersonville, TN 37075

    Domain Name: UNIX.COM

    Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
    Bass, Tim (TB7)
    ....

    Record last updated on 04-Jan-1997.
    Record expires on 19-Nov-2000.
    Record created on 18-Nov-1993.
    Database last updated on 23-Apr-2000 20:00:32 EDT.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    NS.SILKROAD.COM 198.133.151.18
    NS.CAIS.COM 205.177.10.10
  • I'm almost positive that SCO has licensed rights for use of the term Unix from the Open Group or its precedessors. SCO bought UnixWare from Novell, Novell bought UnixWare from AT&T who originally owned the trademark for and SVR* implementation of UNIX. Novell owned the trademark and transferred it to the Open Group, if I recall correctly, while retaining the right to use it in their own product. I would imagine that that right was transferred to SCO with the sale of UnixWare.

    UnixWare *would* violate the trademark if it weren't already licensed from the OpenGroup. But SCO almost certainly does have such a license.

    --LP
  • Remember when some dillweed bought "business.com" for US$7,500,000? Whatever happened to that mental giant?
  • Interesting comments. I've downloaded the Open Group trademark use guidelines, but don't know when I'll have a chance to read it. However:

    1) "Proper use" may be all-caps, but that does not mean all-lowercase isn't an infringement. Licensed users, fair-use users (everyone who has that "*nix is a trademark of..." disclaimer), and the press would be interested in 'proper use'. Infringers obviously aren't, but that doesn't mean they can't be sued.

    2) Wasn't UnixWare a licensed usage (when UNIX belonged to ATT). Didn't SCO have to negotiate use of that trademark? I vaguely recall they did. Details would be appreciated, if some reader has them. [OOps - just spotted this. Section 4.1 of the trademark agreement says: "The Licence specifically prohibits Licensees of any Trade Marks from registering with the relevant trade mark authorities specific forms of the Trade Marks including trade marks used in combination." Of course infringers aren't licensees ;->]

    3) Even if this wasn't a matter of legal firepower (which of course it is) I don't think any of us would expect to last five nanoseconds in court trying to use a domain-name like coca-cola.com (Look ma! A hyphen, I'm unique!) or CocaCola.com (one word) or playing the Capitalization game (since Coca Cola (TM) is properly capitalized)

    __________

  • Okay, who wants "eunuchs.org?"

    Heh. Sorry, last one left at the time. ;>

  • The guy is still cybersquatting as UNIX is trademarked already when he bought the domain in 93. This means he bought the domain knowing that the name "belongs" to AT&T or the Open Group (not sure when the changeover happened).
  • I might give it up for $400K... ;>
  • casualty of the moderation wars? Thats some interesting stuff there, care to give a little history lesson?

    Since I'm pretty new as a /. poster(I read the stories but didn't post for the longest time) I'm just becoming aware of the whole moderation/karma/troll thing, and to me its one of the most interesting things on /.

  • Well, unix.com is slashdotted, so for this post I'll assume that it is not being sold by Open Group, the rightful owners of the trademark on the name "unix".

    Trademarks are contextual. If someone has a business with the name unix that has nothing to do with operating systems (or probably even computers), they can ALSO have a trademark for the name unix. Trademarks only own a name for specific contexts. For example, ever been to soundgarden.com ?? How about soundgarden.net ? The band wants the names since they have the name trademarked. Others have valid uses of those names that have nothing to do with the band. As such, the band CANNOT retrieve the domain names.

  • A contractor geek, but still a geek.

    And soon to be a very rich geek...
  • Since UNIX is case sensitive, shouldn't 'UNIX.com' be different than 'unix.com' ;-)
  • ru the same guy that did the 'I will choose free bear' (freewill parody) in that recent poll?

    entertaining stuff! :)

  • beginning of '99, on the unix.com web site, they had their, then current, asking price posted. it was $30,000.

    i won't be surprised to see two zeros tacked onto that price when it sells on eBay.

  • Que? What do you mean, "what kind of dip?"

    There is only one possible choice when dealing with Dorritos. Tostito's Queso con Salsa!

    That's right, it's the cheesiest.

    No offense to Kraft.

    MJ

  • What potential use would this domain have outside of the obvious corporate use? I can't imagine that any group besides a unix-related company will win the bid.
  • I wouldn't pay more than 50 cents for a site I can't get to.


    With Windows Millenium MS was able to get the boot time down to 25 seconds.

  • You don't want unix.com (Score:4)

    by Shoeboy ( 16224 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @11:52AM (#1111594) Homepage
    What you REALLY want is multics.org. It's available and waaaaay more geeky than unix.com.

    For the old time COBOL monkeys out there, primeOS.com is available. I think there are ~6 prime boxes still in operation, so there's a built in audience.

    If you want to go head to head with taco and hemos, I suggest ampersanddot.org. It's free as well. &., how cool is that?

    --Shoeboy
  • I'll give you $70 for amazing.com and not a penny more.
    Why on earth would you *want* to sell it?

    Pope

  • My Bid! (Score:1)

    by pbur ( 88030 )
    Eight Dollars My Man! Eight Dollars!
  • Since Unix is copyrighted, too bad you can't register *nix.com.

    SV

  • It may not go for all that much. (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This may be another indicator that we're on the downside of the "Internet Gold Rush" bell curve. Remember the article in WIRED about how the tiny country of Tivoli was going to become and island full of multi-millionares because they had the .tv domain? Well, as I remember it only sold for about $5 million. A nice bit of change to be sure, but heck, Bill Gates lost almost 2000 times that yesterday when his stock went down.

    Also, we're reading more and more how e-business IPO's arn't automatic cash cows any more. Fidelity isn't even taking IPO meetings any more because the market is so weird.

    So, we may very well be beyond the point where a domain name alone, no matter how cool, is worth millions. Besides, ask yourself this "Which big company would benifit more by owning this domain rather than using the domain name they already have?" Those kinds of companies already have recognizable domain names. UNIX.COM is so generic that it's branding value just might not be that strong.

    Hear that sound? It's zeros dropping off of the price tag.

  • Selling a high-profile domain name like this on eBay at this point is pretty useless. There are too many people out there who'll bid on it just to up the price, with no intent of paying.

    Anyone remember year2000.com and the big deal over that putz's eBay auction? He sold his name for $10 mil; there were tons of press stories over "highest amount paid for a domain name ever." Then he found out that every bid was either retracted or an outright joke. Doesn't look like it's sold yet, judging by the stale y2k scare hype that's still up there.

    The same thing will happen here. If unix.com sells, it will be privately. I wouldn't be surprised if this was just an elaborate publicity stunt to drum up interest from serious buyers, and not the bid-kiddies on eBay.

  • With the way the market is reacting to internet companies recently, I doubt Unix.com will go for anywhere near a million bucks...

    ---------------

  • You must be kidding... (Score:4)

    by HardCase ( 14757 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @12:23PM (#1111602)
    So I look down the list of comments, and besides the usual assortment of first posts and Natalie Portman ate my grits, I see two things:

    1. UNIX is copyrighted by the Open Group, so anybody who buys unix.com is screwed.

    2. Domain names want to be free and selling them is nothing more than taking advantage of the system.

    Does anybody but me see a problem here? I mean, these comments are pretty much the summary of any comments on Slashdot. Somebody posts something and all you amateur lawyers come popping out of the woodwork spewing buzzwords that you don't even understand! Honestly...who knows how much it will go for or if it's even sellable? And, for that matter, who cares? Maybe the Open Group...maybe Union Metals Company...maybe Industria del Vestido...maybe Unix Systems Laboratories...maybe AT&T...maybe Rodenstock USA, Inc...but how in the world could it make a difference to anybody here?

    And so what if somebody is making a buck or two off the domain name? VA Linux Systems paid a bunch of money for linux.com. I guess that it was OK, though, because they guy who sold it took care to make sure that it went to the "right people".

    Everybody wants to make buck. But I swear, you'd think that Slashdot was a breeding ground for socialism if you gave many of the comments you read much credence. Maybe the real deal is that everybody should be allowed to make a buck after I make a buck.

    Sheesh. This has turned into a rant. Don't take my word for it, take a look at the comments you see on the site. And, for that matter, take a look at that last 10 or 15 "Ask Slashdot" questions. Maybe the default answer ought to be, "Talk to your lawyer, 'cause if you take the advice you find here, you'll be in BIG trouble!"

    OK, rant mode off.

    =h=

  • "If memory serves, AT&T sold Unix(tm), to Novell, who then sold it to SCO (?)."

    No. They just sold the version for the x86 platform which Novell renamed UnixWare. I'm pretty sure they retained the rights to UNIX.

  • Unix is a registered trademark of the Open Group. That organization could pretty much demand that it be turned over, thanks to the new cybersquatting law: someone is clearly attempting to profit by selling someone else's trademark.

  • Ten Tons Of Flax !!!

  • Trademarks were contextual ... (Score:3)

    by JoeBuck ( 7947 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2000 @12:47PM (#1111607) Homepage

    But the cybersquatting law makes them broader. unix.com can be seized by the Open Group as soon as they ask for it. It's not even a close thing.

  • trademark UNIX belongs to AT&T

    No, it belongs to the Open Group [unix-systems.org].

  • Trademarks are very iffy in my book andthey really piss me off . especially when people trademark other peoples work or word then cash in on their invention. I think I am going to trademark every word in the dictionary then make a fortune by suing publishing companys for trademark infridgement ($5 dollars for every time they use the work "the"). I know it doesn't work that way but still trademarking anything that you didn't do first just really pisses me off.. anyway I think I am, probibly missing a few legal aspects of it but please tell me what is stopping me from doing the fore amentioned plan.
  • Is it OK to call GNU/Linux and *BSD "UNIX-like" systems? It seems that NetBSD is ripping off [netbsd.org] the GNU [gnu.org] tagline.
  • It wasn't hidden at all. Click on the story "Unix.com for sale on eBay". The poll is in a slashbox within the story.
  • For the old time COBOL monkeys out there, primeOS.com is available. I think there are ~6 prime boxes still in operation, so there's a built in audience.

    5. I just shoved mine out the door last month. Actually it's probably still in operation -- I gave it to the guy who did our administration for it. CVSI (www.cvsi.com) who bought the remains of Prime actually owns prime.com. Apparently the government still uses a bunch of them. The FBI specifically I believe... Imagine that...

  • A Pacer? That'd better be the 258 CID model.. Otherwise you'd be better off tossing a crushed Yugo in!! Please note, the Eagle has a PI stripped from a 1975 U.S.G.S. Cherokee.

    I'll sweeten the pot with three dogeared copies of Byte from the eighties, a low mileage Chrysler Torqueflite (for said Eagle), the open tin of Altoids on my desk, and a box of fancy company logo pens that strangly enough found their way into my briefcase.
  • You have to use a trademark for it to be valid, and even then, it is only applicable to the category of product that it is used for. There are also geographical concerns. Your trademark may not be valid in countries where you do not market and sell your product. Printing the name of a trademark is not infringement. Trademarks are not the same thing as copyrights.
  • Fortunately, I don't think anyone who seriously looked at my situation would consider me a cyber squatter. I got the name in 1994, before anyone had even heard of cybersquatting. amazing.com also doesn't map to any specific company or type of business; since it's an ordinary English word there are no trademark issues.

    I normally wouldn't want to sell the name, but at the same time when the values of these things are getting close to otherwise hopelesslly unaffordable Malibu real estate, it looks like a tempting proposition.

    You can see the content that currently resides under amazing.com at http://207.8.214.218 .

    D

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  • 12 federal injunctions
    11 threatening emails
    10 lawyers following me
    9 appeals denied
    8 subponeas daily
    7 counts of theft
    6 orders to surrender
    5 in-dict-ments!
    4 phone calls per minute.
    3 wifes-a-leaving
    2 bankruptcies filed
    and a frog suited federal marshall at the door!
  • I checked out www.unix.net and found it empty in fear of a lawsuit. Then www.unix.org, which didn't resolve. I've seen the Silkroad name and Tim's as well over the years, and yeah, he qualifies as a confirmed geek. It's unfortunate that the Open Group is probably the only purchaser who could get away with putting it up. I wonder if that's why it's in this shape.
  • AT&T hasn't owned that trademark for *YEARS*..

    Heck, Novell has even owned it since then..
  • This is just an off-topic thought..

    What about all those names that become availiable when someone doesn't renew? ..What if someone were to rig up a script that checked a list of 'desireable' domain names and alerted the desiree when they became availiable.. You could rig it to page you on your wireless palm when one popped up.. does something like this exist?

    Funky hack for all those potential squatters..
    -
  • Trollmastah, a well-known participator in the on-line forum, Slashdot, although once dismissed as a so-called "troll," has risen to the top of the turnip truck by soliciting offers from record producers across the country. They are professing a newly rejuvenated interest in a funky-fresh style among computer kiddies that has been tagged as "digital bands."

    No one actually knows what a digital band is, but they're pretty sure it's really stupid.

    In summary, I offer the following lyrics from the up-and-coming digital band, Slashdot This, in order to retain topicality (i.e. not off-topic):

    UNIX.com: It's What's For Dinner
  • How much you want for the rolodex? I'm serious..
  • Unfortunately, someone already offers this service. Check out myinternet.com; they call it MyMonitor. I prefer to call it "Domain Hijacking"...

    The service *might* be used for good purposes, but I fear that the spammer-types will soon adopt this kind of "Domain Hijacking" to make an easy buck off of legitimate domain owners.

    "End of the Internet predicted. Film at 11."

    Greetings,
    Ed.
  • Oh, there are plenty of them.

    I just wanted guidance as to which one was best.

    Best
    D

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