The language is not the name.
The name is protected.
The name is protected.
Let's assume first that is true.
And these articles are about Go being Google's language, which is empirically and legally true.
Different from C. I can write a C compiler with extensions and release it, call it C or "Something-C" and no IP problems. I can even call it Standard C and even if it's not no one can do anything. I maybe can't call it ANSI C if it's not standard compliant, but that's because ANSI is a protected term, not C. And unlike Go.
Now let's assume it's not true.
In that case Go is not Google's language and there are no ip issues. I can make and release a compiler, call it a Go compiler, and I'm fine.
Which is it? Unsure. I find no information suggesting Go is trademarked. But there are people like in your post claiming that it is. If so that should be easy to cite. I really don't know which it is. So many people claiming the word Go is protected. Perhaps they have better references than I could find and we can figure out what sort of language Go really is.
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/golang-nuts/6dKNSN0M_kg/dMCQ...
> The name Go is not trademarked by Google, at least as a programming language trademark. There are other things Google makes called Go (an interesting signal on its own) and they might be trademarked, but Go the language is not a trademark.
> -rob
But, here is Google's official trademark list:
https://www.google.com/permissions/trademark/trademark-list/
> Golang™ programming language
> Go™ programming language
Golang and Go are trademarked by Google as programming languages and Rob Pike is not aware of this. That is interesting. Rob should be made aware.
And so the debate is now settled: Go is in fact Google's programming language, as an empirical legal fact.
I'm not confident I'm correct only because it seems unlikely Google would have a page listing trademarks it doesn't actually own. That being said, I'm pretty sure there's no other place to search for trademarks.
I also don't think there is actually a trademark on the term "Go" based on this USPTO search: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4809%3Ax.... But admittedly I've only looked through five or six pages; using the option to search for an exact term doesn't seem to cut down the search results at all.
Putting a ™ symbol after a name is only a claim on that name to be one's own property for use as a mark on some product or service when trading, and big corporates do this all the time. So I think it's likely Google would have such a page.
> I also don't think there is actually a trademark on the term "Go" based on this USPTO search
There's a distinction between a trademark and a registered trademark. Registering the name in some jurisdiction's database just means the corp has begun its defense of that claim before it sees a perceived infringement.
I would imagine everyday words like "Go" (or "Groovy") wouldn't be accepted by the US trademark office anyway, so perhaps Google tried but failed to register it there. They might get "Golang" accepted but the Go team have said the name of the language is "Go" not "Golang".
Word Mark GO
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038.
G & S: Computer programs and downloadable computer programs that implement a computer programming language for use in developing, building and managing other software.
FIRST USE: 20091110.
FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20091110
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 88100955
Filing Date August 31, 2018
Current Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) Google LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY DELAWARE 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View CALIFORNIA 94043
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
As such, since the Go name is "protected" then the language itself is "protected" even if the protections allow you to contribute your time to Google's language.
Exactly. You're making my point for me.
You can fork Go, call it Glag, and you will have a language that is interoperable with Go. In fact, it is Go - you just changed the name. And this is perfectly OK to do.
If I take Spanish, rename it Bogolog, and start speaking Bogolog around Madrid, people will understand me. Why? Because it's the same language they're speaking, I just changed the name.
The language is not the name.
(Also there is discussion of this point in comments to TFA)