Editing Linux Mark Institute (section)

== Trademark ==
The ''Linux'' trademark is owned by Linus Torvalds in the U.S.,<ref>{{US trademark|74560867|Linux US trademark registration}}</ref> Germany, the E.U., and Japan for "Computer [[operating system]] software to facilitate computer use and operation". The assignment of the trademark to Torvalds occurred after a lawsuit against attorney William R. Della Croce Jr., of Boston, who had registered the trademark in the US in September 1995{{r|resolved}} and began in 1996 to send letters to various Linux distributors, demanding ten percent of royalties from sales of Linux products.{{r|iw}} A petition against Della Croce's practices was started,{{r|action}} and in early 1997, [[WorkGroup Solutions]], [[Yggdrasil Linux|Yggdrasil]], [[Linux Journal]], [[Linux International]], and Torvalds appealed the original trademark assignment as "fraudulent and obtained under false pretenses".<ref name="action">{{cite news |title=Action Taken on Linux Trademark |issue=35 |date=1 March 1997 |first=Phil |last=Hughes |newspaper=Linux Journal |url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2098}}</ref> By November, the case was settled and Torvalds owned the trademark.<ref name="resolved">{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Richardson |title=Ownership of Linux Trademark Resolved |url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2559 |newspaper=Linux Journal |issue=43 |date=1 November 1997}}</ref>