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Comment by greysun | Hacker News Reader

I don't think Arm's boss is personally offended by any of this but trademark laws require companies to protect their own trademark, otherwise they might simply lose the rights to own it.

It is explained in the article:

"At the same time, we have a duty to protect the Arm brand, which has been built over more than 30 years. Like all companies with registered trademarks, Arm is legally obligated to ensure those trademarks are protected and used appropriately. We recognize that this activity is sometimes met with frustration and are actively working to find a solution that works for all parties involved."

It's not about 'rules', it is a legal requirement.

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This is wrong. Companies only need to “protect” trademarks by going after companies that offer similar products using that trademarked name. Unless a company gets a service mark, trademarks also only apply in certain categories.

This was massive overreach by ARM. And frankly it was really inappropriate of the hosting provider to interfere with the websites.

For a case like this, it's easy: give this site a license (or sell it one for $1), have them put trademark notices, and call it a day.

That's the assertion ARM made.

Yet it seems to me that is is pretty unclear that this is an open and shut case of trademark infringement. This appears to an example of fair-use to me as there is nothing her that would indicate any potential for confusion to the market or harm to the brand.

Part of problem here is that the incentives support over enforcement, there is little to no legal consequence when companies go after fair use and a lack on enforcement does carry risks of eventually losing the trademark.

However, that doesn't justify ARM's actions here. There are plenty of ways that ARM could have approached this that would have protected their trademark without the loss of goodwill from someone they have a valuable relationship with.

Taking this approach is indicative of laziness and indiffence.

Understandable, it's unfortunate

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