F5 Doesn't Like A10's Name -- But Sues Over Patents, Not Trademarks
from the you-sunk-my-battleship dept
johnjac points out that it's a bit odd that, in the middle of a patent lawsuit, data center provider F5 Networks complains that competitor A10 Networks name itself is an attempt to copy F5. Who knows whether the patent questions are legitimate, but names have nothing to do with patents, and it seems like a pretty big stretch for F5 to claim that a company that combines a letter and a number is automatically doing so "as a play, or allusion to, F5's corporate name." And, even if it were true, how would that matter if the discussion is over patents, not trademarks?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: lawsuits, patents, trademarks
Companies: a10, f5
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0xA10 = 2576
Hmm.. no that would be just silly. :D
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Not Unusual
I'm not a big fan of putting a totally irrelevant accusation like that in a complaint, but it's a pretty common practice.
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Hell
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As far as the name thing goes - both are pretty lame names, if you ask me.... Certainly not worth a lawsuit alone.
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funny history on the names.
When I think of the A10 name, I think of A10 Tank Killer, showing my age, and remembering a game from 1991 featuring the A10 Thunderbolt military aircraft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Tank_Killer
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naming
could a company get away with koka-kola?
mersedes bends?
a10 at first glance seems like a casual relationship- then you hear Arules, Acontrol, and then it goes from casual to (inmho) nefarious.
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A10 name
From what I hear a10's products are a lot faster than f5's...so if they did copy something, clearly they left out the slowness feature.
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F#cK F5
Best regards,
Bill
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Thanks for this
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