

Autodesk loses in claiming trademark for .dwg file extension - grellas
http://mccarthy.ca/article_detail.aspx?id=4940

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jcl
_The 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...)

