The Korean Linux community was outraged when
on August 20, 1999, several Korean businesses selling Linux-related
products got a letter from the attorney of Yongtae Kwon claiming that they
were violating his registered trademark of the name "Linux".
An examination showed that Kwon had applied for two "Linux" trademarks on
September 27, 1995 and was granted them both on May 22, 1997 and July 5,
1997.
Kwon's letter, in part, claimed:
At present, I came to know the fact that you have sold the books in
"attached catalogue", prohibited
by law, and your these opportunities are included in violating act
against the trade-marks in the laws
of trade-mark...
Regarding the specified products of "Linux", no one has a
monopolistic and exclusive right except
me in Korea.
On August, 24, 1999, several publishers, including Information Publishing
Group, responded by bringing a lawsuit against Kwon to unavail him of the
trademark. Information Publishing Group and Youngjin Co. Ltd. are pursuing
the suit directly and other publishers are supporting them financially.
On August, 25, 1999, an officer of the Korean Industrial Property Office
announced that proving the fact that Linux was used as an operating system
in Korea in 1995 will be sufficient to unavail the trademark.
He stated further that the reason this "Linux" trademark was successfuly
registered was:
In 1996, the examiner didn't know
that "Linux" was one the
name of an existing operating system.
During the public response period of the application, there was no
objection from anyone.
