I see this as a sort of a trademark issue, even though both probably dont have a Go trademark. The guy may have been the first to "take" the name, but what he d

I see this as a sort of a trademark issue, even though both probably dont have a Go trademark. The guy may have been the first to "take" the name, but what he did not do is to be successful enough with it to earn a de facto trademark. Basically nobody knows his Go, so there is no trademark. And without a trademark, legal or de facto, you cant claim exclusive rights to a name. A trademark (again, legal or de facto) violation would have occured here if google knowingly took the name Go to gain an advantage from the (non-existing) good reputation this guy built around his Go. But they didnt, since their Go, by the virtue of Googles impact alone, probably got more brand awareness in the first hour of the first presentation, than this guy's Go in 10 years. Does this mean that the "big guys" can simply take over names from the small guys? Yes and no. Yes, because if you want to protect a name, protect it legally, as everybody else does. Theres a legal mechanism for that. And No, because the guy still can keep his name, Google didnt trademark it and then sued him. The world is large enough for 2 (and more) Go's. Just being the first to take a name for some obscure personal mini-project nobody else cares about _should_ not mean that now nobody can use the same name, worldwide, ever again.