A few days ago I talked with someone about writing a book about TeX and we came to the question if TeX as a word and its Logo (and the related things like LaTeX, XeTeX, …, package names etc.) are (registered) trademarks or can I use it freely as any other word like dog, house, moon, …?
Examples
- using in book titles: Start with TeX or Become a TeXnician …
- using in corparate names: LaTeX production company or TeX Help Line …
Are there any restrictions in using “TeX” commercially (assuming the products/services are TeX related)?
How about the derived words like “LaTeX”, “XeTeX” etc.
Edit:
As Patrick said, the country could be important … I’m living in Germany and want to sell from there too but I could imagine that there are readers from Swiss and Austria for German books too.
Best Answer
There is no restriction, as long as it is rendered either as TeX or with the logo, and as long as the reference is to the actual TeX(-related) software.
That said, it is not likely that any lawyers will be sent after you; however, beware of peer pressure, which can be considerable.
At the time of the attempted registration, I actually handled the letter from the Honeywell lawyers, asking that DEK and AMS cease and desist from use of the name. This is a case where peer pressure did have a strong effect, since Honeywell was then a computer manufacturer, and DEK was already a leading light of computer science. A compromise was worked out by which the TeX form of the name was agreed to be acceptable, if used consistently.
There has not been a later attempt to register the trademark; however, Knuth's standing internationally is sufficient that if the name were "misused", there would probably be at least a few reasonably local interested persons to object. In fact, this is what we count on when complaining about PDF copies of The TeXbook found on the web; in most parts of the world, this is sufficient to get them removed.