🚀 go-pugleaf

   Date: 1 Aug 91 00:49:49 GMT
   From: tower@ai.mit.edu (Leonard H. Tower Jr.)

      Date: 31 Jul 91 21:38:07 GMT
      From: hudgens@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Hudgens)

      Another question on the GPL: if I release a program under the GPL, can
      I call it GNU-something-or-other, or is the GNU designation "reserved"
      for programs with copyright owned by the FSF?  Any opinions or
      definitive answers?

   FSF and the GNU Project request that you ask us (via
   gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu) before designating a program as "GNU"
   something-or-other.  It's the right thing to do and will avoid a lot
   of confusion later on.

I don't understand "It's the right thing" (and as for confusion...)
There's no GNU trademark, and it's not clear if there could be since
stuff so trademarked could be modified freely and still have the same
name (hence the ? in my mind about confusion)...

Then there's GNUPLOT, which if I remember had that name regardless,
and gnutar, or gnuucp which were started by hoptoad!gnu before the FSF
was formed...

I know this muddies the waters somewhat but I was amused by the
question which had never occurred to me before...it is somewhat
consistent with Emacs not being a reserved name.

Hmm, I could write, say, a tty driver and call it GNU Emacs!  In
fact I could write, say, a vi clone and call it that!  Yow!