{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
  "title": "open-source on Thinking out loud",
  "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2026/15/1889119.jpg",
  "home_page_url": "https://dpclark.blog/",
  "feed_url": "https://dpclark.blog/feed.json",
  "items": [
      {
        "id": "http://dpclark.micro.blog/2026/05/06/trademarks-and-the-new-normal.html",
        "title": "Trademarks and the New Normal",
        "content_html": "<p>I came across <a href=\"https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/05/04/macos-port-of-notepad-called-out-for-trademark-violation/\">this article on The Register</a> about a developer who ported Notepad++ to macOS — and promptly got called out for a trademark violation. It made me think about how common this kind of situation is going to become.</p>\n<p>I use Notepad++ at work as my scratch pad. It&rsquo;s a licensed copy via our supply chain team, and it runs on GPLv2 — which means porting the codebase to macOS is entirely within the rules. The code is fair game.</p>\n<p>The problem isn&rsquo;t the port. It&rsquo;s the likeness.</p>\n<p>The developer used the same name, the same icon, and the same visual identity as the original Windows application. As Don Ho, the creator of Notepad++, put it: most users won&rsquo;t read the fine print. They&rsquo;ll download it, assume it&rsquo;s the official release, and never know the difference. That&rsquo;s not a technicality — it&rsquo;s the whole point of trademark protection.</p>\n<p>Porting someone else&rsquo;s software used to require serious time and skill. That natural friction kept the volume low. Now, with AI-assisted development tools that can handle much of the heavy lifting, the barrier is nearly gone. A motivated developer can spin up a port in a weekend. That&rsquo;s genuinely exciting — but it also means the gray areas around naming, likeness, and identity are going to get tested a lot more often.</p>\n<p>The code being open doesn&rsquo;t mean the brand is. That distinction is going to matter more, not less, as the tools get better.</p>\n",
        "date_published": "2026-05-06T19:48:49-04:00",
        "url": "https://dpclark.blog/2026/05/06/trademarks-and-the-new-normal.html",
        "tags": ["AI","open-source","trademarks","software","licensing"]
      }
  ]
}