In <1iizext.8dch1z9emwfiN%nospam@see.signature> Richard Maine wrote: > Howard Brazee <howard@brazee.net> wrote: > >> On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:42:40 -0500, Greg Buchner <null@none.invalid> >> wrote: >> >> >There were PC's before IBM came along with the IBM PC. >> >> Didn't IBM copy rite the term? > > I suspect you are referring to registering a trademark. You can't > copyright a word (though the way things are going...). Note also that > copyrights refer to the right to copy rather than a rite of copying. > Thus the spelling. It is true that copying a floppy on an original IBM > PC was a bit of a rite if you had only one drive, but I doubt they > copyrighted that particular rite. :-) > > I seriously doubt that IBM registered a trademark for the term "PC" > since that term was already in common generic use.
Even Apple used it. The Apple II+ shipping box I still have has 'The Personal Computer' printed on it, with the word personal underlined. I don't know when this particular box was made, but the Apple II+ was sold from 1979 to 1982 so it's likely Apple was using the term before the IBM PC was released.
-- Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand -> http://roger.geek.nz
