Canonical holds the trademark and right to the name “Launchpad” according to the legal policy placed on the Launchpad website, but that hasn’t stopped Apple from launching their own Launchpad yesterday during the keynote. It looks like we might have a trademark-infringment case on our hands again.
In a pretty witty move, a funny Ubuntu fan thought it would be a lark to submit a bug on the Launchpad website, indicating that it would be a “bug” if Canonical neglects to defend their trademark against Apple.
Apple has a way of working these things out before their products get launched, and given that we won’t be seeing 10.7 until next summer, there’s plenty of time to reach an “agreement.”
We’ve quoted the thread below for your convenience, but if you want to see the original you can get it on the Launchpad website.
The Thread
The Original comment
According to [1] then ” “Launchpad” is a registered trademark of Canonical Ltd “.
Considering Apple have announced a new piece of software for Mac OS X called “Launchpad” (see second image down on [2]). I believe it is a “bug” if Canonical does not defend Launchpad’s right to the name.
[1] https://help.launchpad.net/Legal
[2] http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/
Canonical’s lawyers didn’t seem to think it was so funny, and responded fairly quickly.
The response
Who made this a bug please?
Amanda
Amanda Brock, General Counsel
Canonical
27 Floor, Millbank Tower
London SW1P 4QP
Ubuntu – Linux for Human Beings
www.canonical.com
