The Linux Mark Institute (LMI, fully "LMI Oregon, LLC") is an organization which administers the "''

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

''"

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

on behalf of

Linus Torvalds Linus Benedict Torvalds ( , ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and, historically, the lead developer of the Linux kernel, used by Linux distributions and other operating systems such as Android. He also c ...

for computer

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

which includes the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...

, computer hardware utilizing Linux-based software, and for services associated with the implementation and documentation of Linux-based products.

Trademark

The ''Linux'' trademark is owned by Linus Torvalds in the U.S., Germany, the E.U., and Japan for "Computer operating system software to facilitate computer use and operation". The assignment of the trademark to Torvalds occurred after a lawsuit against attorney William R. Della Croce, Jr., of Boston, who had registered the trademark in the US in September 1995 and began in 1996 to send letters to various Linux distributors, demanding ten percent of royalties from sales of Linux products. A petition against Della Croce's practices was started, and in early 1997,

WorkGroup Solutions Workgroup may refer to: * Courtroom Workgroup, an informal arrangement between a criminal prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, and the judicial officer * Workgroup (computer networking), a peer-to-peer computer network * Working group, a group ...

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional s ...

Linux Journal ''Linux Journal'' (''LJ'') is an American monthly technology magazine originally published by Specialized System Consultants, Inc. (SSC) in Seattle, Washington since 1994. In December 2006 the publisher changed to Belltown Media, Inc. in Houston ...

Linux International Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by Finnish student Linus Torvalds: to create a new free operating system kernel. The resulting Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since the initial release of its sourc ...

, and Torvalds appealed the original trademark assignment as "fraudulent and obtained under false pretenses". By November, the case was settled and Torvalds owned the trademark.

History

LMI originally charged a nominal sublicensing fee for use of the Linux name as part of trademarks, but later changed this in favor of offering a free, perpetual worldwide sublicense. LMI was headquartered in Monterey, California until at least 2005. Since at least 2009 it was headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.

References

External links

* Linux organizations Trademark law Organizations based in Oregon Organizations based in California Mass media companies {{linux-stub