Who Owns The Linux Trademark?

An anonymous reader writes "In an addendum to the recent noises by Microsoft about Linux, InformationWeek blogger Alexander Wolfe has turned up an interesting list of who owns U.S. trademarks on the word "Linux." Yes, Linus Torvalds does indeed have the trademark as far as software is concerned. But Swiss company Rosch owns "Linux" for use with laundry detergents. Interestingly, both Pogo Linux and United Linux have abandoned their trademarks (Wolfe speculates that's because of Linus's lawyers). But Finite State Machines of New Mexico owns RTLinux and Linux Networx Inc. owns "Linux Supercomputing." You can also read the full list of all 204 Linux trademarks"

Interesting, but...

[abaddononion]

Does it really matter? This seems to be more of a discussion on trademarks rather than copyright/ownership issues. This is about the name "Linux", rather than what Linux actually IS. Even if the Linux trademark WAS what Microsoft was having disputes with (which it's not), it'd just be a "rose by any other name" scenario. Kinda like the way Gaim just changed its name to Pidgin. It's still Gaim, and it doesnt seem to me that people have had much trouble accepting the name change.

Im not saying this is completely uninteresting. But I think it's a little strong to tie it to the "noise by Microsoft about Linux".

Computer & Operating System

[VincenzoRomano]

One should wonder who own these two trademarks.

Apples and Bicycles.

[DerekLyons]

Not really. Ownership in F/OSS is a diffuse thing, you can 'own' a chunk of software - but you don't really have any legal rights over that software. You give them up under whichever F/OSS licence you use. When you 'own' a trademark, you retain your legal rights, you can direct how the trademark is used, and you can prevent others from using it.