PL/2, PL/3, PL/4, PL/5, PL/6, PL/7, PL/8, PL/9, PL/10, PL/11,
Andrew Klossner
andrew at orca.UUCP
Thu Mar 8 14:52:33 AEST 1984
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"Sorry, that name's been taken. When IBM unleashed PL/1 on the
world, I believe they trademarked PL/2 through PL/99 to avoid
be upstaged."
Yes, but US trademark law specifically provides that if a company does
not use a trademark it reverts to the public domain. Since IBM has had
these trademarks for almost twenty years and hasn't released a product
under those marks, they no longer have a valid claim to them.
On the other hand, some authorities claim that a trademark consists
only of its letters; digits are insignificant. This is why an earlier
language was called SIMSCRIPT IV, rather than SIMSCRIPT 4, so as not to
collide with a different trademark, SIMSCRIPT. By this argument, any
name for a programming language whose letters are "PL" would be a
violation of the PL/1 trademark. [But then, some of IBM's compilers
have been called PL/I.]
Of course, all this is probably academic, as they have enough lawyers
to bankrupt a challenger in civil lawsuits.
-- Andrew Klossner (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew) [UUCP]
(orca!andrew.tektronix at rand-relay) [ARPA]
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