From ylo Wed Feb 14 03:36:19 +0200 2001 From: Tatu Ylonen < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it To: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Subject: SSH trademarks and the OpenSSH product name Organization: SSH Communications Security, Finland Friends, Sorry to write this to a developer mailing list.  I have already approached some OpenSSH/OpenBSD core members on this, including Markus Friedl, Theo de Raadt, and Niels Provos, but they have chosen not to bring the issue up on the mailing list.  I am not aware of any other forum where I would reach the OpenSSH developers, so I will post this here. As you know, I have been using the SSH trademark as the brand name of my SSH (Secure Shell) secure remote login product and related technology ever since I released the first version in July 1995.  I have explicitly claimed them as trademarks at least from early 1996. In December 1995, I started SSH Communications Security Corp to support and further develop the SSH (Secure Shell) secure remote login products and to develop other network security solutions (especially in the IPSEC and PKI areas).  SSH Communications Security Corp is now publicly listed in the Helsinki Exchange, employs 180 people working in various areas of cryptographic network security, and our products are distributed directly and indirectly by hundreds of licensed distributors and OEMs worldwide using the SSH brand name.  There are several million users of products that we have licensed under the SSH brand. To protect the SSH trademark I (or SSH Communications Security Corp, to be more accurate) registered the SSH mark in the United States and European Union in 1996 (others pending).  We also have a registration pending on the Secure Shell mark. The SSH mark is a significant asset of SSH Communications Security and the company strives to protect its valuable rights in the SSHŽ name and mark.  SSH Communications Security has made a substantial investment in time and money in its SSH mark, such that end users have come to recognize that the mark represents SSH Communications Security as the source of the high quality products offered under the mark. This resulting goodwill is of vital importance to SSH Communications Security Corp. We have also been distributing free versions of SSH Secure Shell under the SSH brand since 1995.  The latest version, ssh-2.4.0, is free for any use on the Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD operating systems, as well as for universities and charity organizations, and for personal hobby/recreational use by individuals. We have been including trademark markings in SSH distributions, on the www.ssh.fi, www.ssh.com, and www.ssh.org web sites, IETF standards documents, license/readme files and product packaging long before the OpenSSH group was formed.  Accordingly, we would like you to
... read more »