[SciPy-Dev] Does Matlab need to be MATLAB(TM)...

[josef.pktd at gmail.com]

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 6:53 AM, Pauli Virtanen <pav at iki.fi> wrote:
> Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:41:42 +0100, Dr. David Kirkby wrote:
>
>> On 06/ 4/10 08:07 AM, Matthew Brett wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>> IMHO it should be called MATLAB and not Matlab since that is what
>>>> Mathworks call it.
>>>
>>>> From the wikipedia style guide, I don't think we're obliged to
>>> capitalize the way the Mathworks would like, and we can choose whatever
>>> reads better.
>>
>> If someone came along and changed SciPy to scipy, would you feel it
>> appropriate to change it back? I suspect "yes" is the answer. As such,
>> why not respect Mathworks and write MATLAB the prefer to write it?
>
> If Mathworks decided to refer to SciPy as SCIPY or Scipy or scipy, I
> would hardly be inclined to correct them, much less raise a lawsuit.
>
> The point is that as long as with "Matlab" we are referring to the
> "MATLAB" produced by Mathworks, not a hypotethical product of our own
> called "Matlab" or "scipy.matlab", this cannot be a trademark
> infringement. IANAL, of course, but it seems clear that the exact
> spelling is hardly an issue of concern.
>
> IMHO English proper name capitalization trumps the "official" spelling,
> but this is not very important.

Additionally, the reference is often to matlab as a programming
language, such as programs written in matlab, where the author is not
Mathworks.

We don't add a trademark sign to C# or Java, or Gauss or .. either.

Josef


> --
> Pauli Virtanen
>
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