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Ask HN: Writing a book about proprietary software/language

3 points by sndean 10y ago

What are some of the issues associated with writing, distributing, and/or selling a book about a proprietary piece of software? If I wanted to write a book about MATLAB or Dyalog APL, would MathWorks or Dyalog have a problem with that? Would it be simpler to write about an open source version, i.e., GNU Octave and GNU APL? Just wondering if anyone has experience with this.

mindcrime 10y ago
I just picked up a MATLAB book that was lying within arms reach, and here's what I observed: The first few uses of the term MATLAB, on the cover, just inside the front cover, etc., all had the (R) symbol tacked on. On the copyright/notices page, there was a blurb saying "MATLAB is a registered trademark of Mathworks, Inc." There wasn't anything like "...used with permission" like you see sometimes, and the rest of the references to MATLAB sprinkled throughout the text did not have the (R) symbol. I also picked up a Swift book, and saw a similar pattern. The "Swift" on the cover and just inside the cover had the (tm) symbol tagged on. A page or two inside the cover was a page that just said: TRADEMARKS ... iOS, Swift, Objective-C, Cocoa, blah, blah, blah are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Again, nothing about permission. Not sure how much you can infer from that, but I think the rule may be something like "you can use a trademark in this fashion, as long as you acknowledge it and don't mis-represent your relationship with the trademark". IANAL of course, and if you're serious about writing a book, you might want to consult an IP attorney... or just call up Mathworks or Dyalog or whoever and say "Hey, I'm planning to write a book about your product, are you cool with that?" Best case, they say "Sure, go ahead" and you can rest easy.
elviejo 10y ago
You don't need permission to do a book about Matlab the same way yo don't need permission to do a review video of a Ford Mustang... Just give attribution where it is used.
- elviejo 10y ago
  But it is always better to help a free software project such as GNU Octave

3 points by sndean 10y ago

mindcrime 10y ago

I just picked up a MATLAB book that was lying within arms reach, and here's what I observed: The first few uses of the term MATLAB, on the cover, just inside the front cover, etc., all had the (R) symbol tacked on. On the copyright/notices page, there was a blurb saying "MATLAB is a registered trademark of Mathworks, Inc." There wasn't anything like "...used with permission" like you see sometimes, and the rest of the references to MATLAB sprinkled throughout the text did not have the (R) symbol. I also picked up a Swift book, and saw a similar pattern. The "Swift" on the cover and just inside the cover had the (tm) symbol tagged on. A page or two inside the cover was a page that just said: TRADEMARKS ... iOS, Swift, Objective-C, Cocoa, blah, blah, blah are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Again, nothing about permission. Not sure how much you can infer from that, but I think the rule may be something like "you can use a trademark in this fashion, as long as you acknowledge it and don't mis-represent your relationship with the trademark". IANAL of course, and if you're serious about writing a book, you might want to consult an IP attorney... or just call up Mathworks or Dyalog or whoever and say "Hey, I'm planning to write a book about your product, are you cool with that?" Best case, they say "Sure, go ahead" and you can rest easy.

elviejo 10y ago

You don't need permission to do a book about Matlab the same way yo don't need permission to do a review video of a Ford Mustang... Just give attribution where it is used.

elviejo 10y ago
But it is always better to help a free software project such as GNU Octave