DBC TM

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Lurker" <lurker at mailinator.com> wrote in message 
news:gkanpu$2l9f$1 at digitalmars.com...
> "Design by Contract is a registered trademark[1] of Interactive Software 
> Engineering, Inc. in the United States"
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_contract
>
> Does Digital Mars has permission for ISE to use the DBC trademark? This is 
> not an attack to the D language but I was just curious if Walter had 
> spoken with someone at ISE about it.

According to that page the term was coined in 1988, but they never applied 
for a trademark on it until 2003. I'm no lawyer, but how valid could that 
possibly be? Yea, it was granted in 2004, but at least in the US, being 
granted an IP doesn't mean it's actually valid - that's deliberately left 
for courts to decide (for better or worse). And yea, maybe they could sue, 
but again, at least in the US, you don't need a valid case in order to sue 
someone and make them settle, all you have to do is make up some BS and hire 
a lawyer (just look at the old Hasbro Interactive's practices.)