[jra_samba_org]

Please don't call Samba.tv just 'Samba'. We (the Samba project) have trademark on Samba, which is for the file server, authentication and print server that runs on Unix boxes and allows interoperability with Microsoft Windows.

Samba.tv is... Something else. It has nothing to do with us.

[johnhenry]

Unfortunately, I don't think it's very useful to call out the consumer on this -- it might make sense to go after Samba.tv in court to prevent them from using the trademark.

(BTW, I do really appreciate all the work done on samba over the past few decades, so thanks!).

[duncan_bayne]

Have you considered a cease and desist? I think the name is sufficiently similar to cause confusion.

[ouid]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_infringement

>"Infringement may occur when one party, the 'infringer', uses a trademark which is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark owned by another party, in relation to products or services which are identical or similar to the products or services which the registration covers"

this basically means that in order to have an infringement case, you need to show that both the name/brand/logo are confusingly similar, and also that the product/service/domain are close enough to each other. I don't know that "software" is a sufficiently narrow category to count.

[johnhenry]

Might be along shot, but both seem to be relevant in the whole "watching digital video" space.

(I'm imagining an a scenario in which an elderly version of myself becomes confused...

Me: "Honey, I think we should watch a movie over the samba!".

My elderly wife: "Did you mean the samba on the smart TV, or the samba on the PC?"

Me: Dag Nabbit!)

[duncan_bayne]

That's exactly the scenario I was thinking of. I've run samba in a household with a (non-smart) TV, back in the day. There's definitely some overlap there.

[terrantech]

When I first read this, I assumed Samba had started a file streaming service/app for Android TV to stream movies from Samba shares.

Admittedly, a few seconds of thinking made me realise they'd never do that... but it's easy to see why people are getting confused, which is EXACTLY where Trademark stuff comes in.

[CrystalLangUser]

I was sorely confused as I thought Samba was legitimately doing this at first. It's literally Samba's name with .tv appended, and one can play files using sambda + VLC..

[duncan_bayne]

Yeah, ditto.

"Oooooh, some sort of media centre software based on samba? Count me in. Oh, wait ... :("

[TylerE]

"Software" is a a WAY narrower category than, say, Cars vs Washing machines.

[gerdesj]

Absolutely. I nearly choked when I saw the name.