4 ms·
Autodesk loses in claiming trademark for .dwg file extension
- jcl 16y agoThe court found that ownership of file extension designations cannot be appropriated under the Lanham Act -- file extensions are inherently functional, and functional uses cannot be trade-marked. It stated that computer programmers and computer users should be free to designate file extensions as they see fit, without the fear of infringing trade-marks. It's nice to occasionally see an example of technological sophistication in the courts. I particularly like that the judge recognized the disproportionate burden that trademarked file extensions would impose on development. (Now, as for patents...)