So again, what is the difference between making a new spreadsheet app and calling it "Excel", and reimplementing a suite of smaller applications and reusing all their same names? Say, how coreutils steals the name of a large number of SysV utilities?
It certainly feels like there's some kind of a difference between the two, but I can't put my finger on exactly what puts one into either category. IMO it may simply be a matter of willingness to sue/defend your trademark. AT&T didn't defend their trademark and now it's genericized.
To throw extra fuel onto the fire, let's add Oracle v Google into this discussion. To me, the coreutils are almost like the API of a programming language - you string together application calls just like function calls, to produce a useful application. Oracle v Google established that the API itself is not copyrightable. Should an attempt to defend based on trademark of the function names have succeeded? If not, what differentiates the "ls" utility from Excel?
It certainly feels like there's some kind of a difference between the two, but I can't put my finger on exactly what puts one into either category. IMO it may simply be a matter of willingness to sue/defend your trademark. AT&T didn't defend their trademark and now it's genericized.
To throw extra fuel onto the fire, let's add Oracle v Google into this discussion. To me, the coreutils are almost like the API of a programming language - you string together application calls just like function calls, to produce a useful application. Oracle v Google established that the API itself is not copyrightable. Should an attempt to defend based on trademark of the function names have succeeded? If not, what differentiates the "ls" utility from Excel?