[plug] MandrakeSoft Changes name to Mandriva

[Bret Busby]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, Bret Busby wrote:

> 
> On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, Richard Meyer wrote:
>
>> 
>> On Fri, 2005-04-08 at 11:55 +0800, Bret Busby wrote:
>>> On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, Muskie Teh Otterboi wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 2. The long-winding trademark lawsuit with Hearst Corporation has
>>>>  reached a point where we decided it is more reasonable for us to
>>>>  move forward. By adopting a new name, we eliminate the liability
>>>>  attached to the Mandrakesoft name and we can focus on what is
>>>>  important to us: developing and delivering great technology and
>>>>  solutions to both our customers and our user community.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> It's probably a bit off-topic, but what was the lawsuit with the Hearst
>>> Corporation, about?
>> 
>> Hearst corporation owned a cartoon (or something) named "Mandrake the
>> Magician". With MDK using the name, and the wizard and wand, and star in
>> their logos, Hearst corp decided that they were infringing copyright
>> (IIRC).
>> 
>> In the early days of MDK, they admitted that that's where the name and
>> logo came from, so they really didn't have too much of a leg to stand
>> on.
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
>
> Thanks for that explanation.
>
> I remember the comic strip, Mandrake the magician, but I hadn't associated 
> Mandrake software with the comic strip.
>
> The word mandrake is much older than the Hearst Corporation, and refers to a 
> plant that has roots that are supposed to resemble a human, in shape, and, 
> according to witchcraft principles, was supposed to emit a humanly scream, 
> when the plant was pulled from the ground (maybe under certain 
> circumstances), and, because of those two factors, was used in some 
> witchcraft spells, from memory. Those two factors are what gave rise to the 
> name Mandrake, which was the name given to the plant for those reasons.
>
> I would have thought that, with the origin of the name Mandrake, depending on 
> hopw exactly the software company applied it, the software company would have 
> had as much rick to use the name, as the Hearst Corporation.
>

Ah, that should have been "as much right as" - Rick had nothing to do 
with it :) .

> It's a it like whoever came up with the fantasy named Willow, trademarking 
> the word willow, and, "willowy blondes".
>
> But, anyway, such are the ways of some intellectual property, and it's 
> probably a bit too off-topic.
>
> --

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992

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