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115-454: Digital Equipment Corporation 's RK05 is a disk drive whose removable disk pack can hold about 2.5 megabytes of data. Introduced 1972, it is similar to IBM 's 1964-introduced 2310 , and uses a disk pack similar to IBM's 2315 disk pack, although the latter only held 1 megabyte. An RK04 drive, which has half the capacity of an RK05, was also offered. Systems on which it can be used include DEC's PDP-8 , PDP-11 , and PDP-15 . The RK05

230-426: A 19-inch rack . The backplanes allowed 25 modules in a single 5-1/4 inch section of rack, and allowed the high densities needed to build a computer. The original laboratory and system module lines were offered in 500 kilocycle, 5 megacycle and 10 megacycle versions. In all cases, the supply voltages were -15 and +10 volts, with logic levels of -3 volts (passive pull-down) and 0 volts (active pull-up). DEC used

345-592: A "first-to-file" system, which grants rights to the first entity to register the mark. However, well-known trademarks are an exception, as they may receive protection even without registration. In contrast, a few countries, like the United States, Canada, and Australia, follow a "first-to-use" or hybrid system, where using the mark in commerce can establish certain rights, even without registration. However, registration in these countries still provides stronger legal protection and enforcement. For example, in

460-610: A VAX CPU was the VAX-11/780 , announced in October 1977, which DEC referred to as a superminicomputer . Although it was not the first 32-bit minicomputer, the VAX-11/780's combination of features, price, and marketing almost immediately propelled it to a leadership position in the market after it was released in 1978. VAX systems were so successful that in 1983, DEC canceled its Jupiter project , which had been intended to build

575-444: A company or product. A trademark, by contrast, offers legal protection for a brand with enforceable rights over the brand's identity and distinguishing elements. Trademark law is designed to fulfill the public policy objective of consumer protection , by preventing the public from being misled as to the origin or quality of a product or service. By identifying the commercial source of products and services, trademarks facilitate

690-467: A competitor uses the same or a confusingly similar trademark for the same or similar products in a jurisdiction where the trademark is protected. This concept is recognized in many jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union, and other countries, though specific legal standards may vary. To establish trademark infringement in court, the plaintiff generally must show: Trademark

805-630: A distinctive label or ticket'. In the United States , Congress first attempted to establish a federal trademark regime in 1870. This statute purported to be an exercise of Congress' Copyright Clause powers. However, the Supreme Court struck down the 1870 statute in the Trade-Mark Cases later on in the decade. In 1881, Congress passed a new trademark act, this time according to its Commerce Clause powers. Congress revised

920-437: A generic product or service name. They should stand out from the surrounding text using capital letters, bold type, italics, color, underlining, quotation marks, or a unique stylized format. For example, say “LEGO® toy blocks” instead of “Lego’s.” A trademark may be designated by the following symbols: While ™ and ℠ apply to unregistered marks (™ for goods and ℠ for services), the ® symbol indicates official registration with

1035-609: A loss of rights in the trademark. It is still possible to make significant changes to the underlying goods or services during a sale without jeopardizing the trademark, but companies will often contract with the sellers to help transition the mark and goods or services to the new owners to ensure continuity of the trademark. Trademarks are often confused with patents and copyrights . Although all three laws protect forms of intangible property, collectively known as intellectual property (IP), they each have different purposes and objectives: Among these types of IP, only trademark law offers

1150-583: A new virtual memory system, and would also improve performance by processing twice as much data at a time. The system would, however, maintain compatibility with the PDP-11, by operating in a second mode that sent its 16-bit words into the 32-bit internals, while mapping the PDP-11's 16-bit memory space into the larger virtual 32-bit space. The result was the VAX architecture, where VAX stands for Virtual Address eXtension (from 16 to 32 bits). The first computer to use

1265-476: A new device to be added easily, generally only requiring plugging a hardware interface board into the backplane and possibly adding a jumper to the wire wrapped backplane, and then installing software that read and wrote to the mapped memory to control it. The relative ease of interfacing spawned a huge market of third party add-ons for the PDP-11, which made the machine even more useful. The combination of architectural innovations proved superior to competitors and

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1380-467: A profit at the end of its first year. The original Laboratory Modules were soon supplemented with the "Digital System Module " line, which were identical internally but packaged differently. The Systems Modules were designed with all of the connections at the back of the module using 22-pin Amphenol connectors, and were attached to each other by plugging them into a backplane that could be mounted in

1495-438: A selection of System Building Blocks to implement a small 12-bit machine, and attached it to a variety of analog-to-digital (A to D) input/output (I/O) devices that made it easy to interface with various analog lab equipment. The LINC proved to attract intense interest in the scientific community, and has since been referred to as the first real minicomputer , a machine that was small and inexpensive enough to be dedicated to

1610-485: A self-sustaining business, the company would be free to use them to develop a complete computer in their Phase II. The newly christened "Digital Equipment Corporation" received $ 70,000 from AR&D for a 70% share of the company, and began operations in a Civil War -era textile mill in Maynard, Massachusetts , where plenty of inexpensive manufacturing space was available. In early 1958, DEC shipped its first products,

1725-511: A separate input/output processor for further performance gains. Over 400 PDP-15's were ordered in the first eight months of production, and production eventually amounted to 790 examples in 12 basic models. However, by this time other machines in DEC's lineup could fill the same niche at even lower price points, and the PDP-15 would be the last of the 18-bit series. In 1962, Lincoln Laboratory used

1840-485: A single large mainframe case, with a hexagonal control panel containing switches and lights mounted to lie at table-top height at one end of the mainframe. Above the control panel was the system's standard input/output solution, a punched tape reader and writer. Most systems were purchased with two peripherals , the Type 30 vector graphics display, and a Soroban Engineering modified IBM Model B Electric typewriter that

1955-659: A single task even in a small lab. Seeing the success of the LINC, in 1963 DEC took the basic logic design but stripped away the extensive A to D systems to produce the PDP-5 . The new machine, the first outside the PDP-1 mould, was introduced at WESTCON on August 11, 1963. A 1964 ad expressed the main advantage of the PDP-5, "Now you can own the PDP-5 computer for what a core memory alone used to cost: $ 27,000". 116 PDP-5s were produced until

2070-653: A successor to the PDP-10 mainframe, and instead focused on promoting the VAX as the single computer architecture for the company. Supporting the VAX's success was the VT52 , one of the most successful smart terminals . Building on earlier less successful models, the VT05 and VT50 , the VT52 was the first terminal that did everything one might want in a single inexpensive chassis. The VT52

2185-526: A time could transfer data. The most-common 12-bit (Omnibus) controller was known as the RK8E ; it supported up to four RK05 drives. The RK05 disk had more than 4096 sectors and so could not be addressed completely by a single PDP-8 12-bit word. To accommodate this, the OS/8 operating system split each drive into two logical volumes, for example, RKA0 and RKB0 , representing the outermost and innermost cylinders of

2300-440: A turn to use the stripped-down TX-0, while largely ignoring a faster IBM machine that was also available. The two decided that the draw of interactive computing was so strong that they felt there was a market for a small machine dedicated to this role, essentially a commercialized TX-0. They could sell this to users where the graphical output or real-time operation would be more important than outright performance. Additionally, as

2415-701: A whole. Trademark protection does not apply to utilitarian features of a product such as the plastic interlocking studs on Lego bricks. The earliest examples of use of markings date back to around 15,000 years ago in Prehistory . Similar to branding practices, the Lascaux cave paintings in France, for instance, depict bulls with marks, which experts believe may have served as personal marks to indicate livestock ownership. Around 6,000 years ago, Egyptian masonry featured quarry marks and stonecutters' signs to identify

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2530-493: Is "escalator," which was once a trademark. In contrast, patents have a fixed term, typically lasting 20 years from the filing date, after which the invention enters the public domain. Copyrights generally last for the life of the author plus an additional 50 to 70 years (depending on the jurisdiction), after which the protected work enters the public domain. Although intellectual property laws such as these are theoretically distinct, more than one type may afford protection to

2645-517: Is best known for their work on what would today be known as "interactivity", and their machines were among the first where operators had direct control over programs running in real-time. These had started in 1944 with the famed Whirlwind , which was originally developed to make a flight simulator for the US Navy , although this was never completed. Instead, this effort evolved into the SAGE system for

2760-435: Is inherently distinctive (able to identify and distinguish a single source of goods or services), often falling into categories such as suggestive, fanciful, or arbitrary, and is therefore registerable. In contrast, weak trademarks tend to be either descriptive or generic and may not be registerable. The registration process typically begins with a trademark clearance search to identify potential conflicts that could prevent

2875-677: Is most famous as the machine for which the Unix operating system was originally written. Unix ran only on DEC systems until the Interdata 8/32 . A more dramatic upgrade to the PDP-1 series was introduced in August 1966, the PDP-9 . The PDP-9 was instruction-compatible with the PDP-4 and −7, but ran about twice as fast as the −7 and was intended to be used in larger deployments. At only $ 19,900 in 1968,

2990-522: Is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." Unsurprisingly, DEC did not put much effort into the microcomputer area in the early days of the market. In 1977, the Heathkit H11 was announced; a PDP-11 in kit form. At the beginning of the 1980s, DEC built the VT180 (codenamed "Robin"), which was a VT100 terminal with an added Z80 -based microcomputer running CP/M , but this product

3105-503: Is required to act as the "basic mark." In the international application, the trademark owner can designate one or more Madrid System Member countries for protection. Each designated country’s trademark office will review the Madrid application under its local laws to grant or refuse protection. In the United States, for example, a trademark must first be registered or pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to serve as

3220-466: Is subject to various defenses, such as abandonment, limitations on geographic scope , and fair use. In the United States, the fair use defense protects many of the interests in free expression related to those protected by the First Amendment . Fair use may be asserted on two grounds, either that the alleged infringer is using the mark to describe accurately an aspect of its products, or that

3335-606: Is used to refer to both trademarks and service marks. Similarly, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines a trademark as a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. WIPO administers the Madrid Protocol , which allows trademark owners worldwide to file one application to register their trademark in multiple countries. Almost anything that identifies

3450-520: The PDP-8 , the drive stored 1.6 megawords (so roughly the same bit capacity, albeit formatted differently). Multiple drives were daisy chained from their controller using Unibus cabling; a terminator was installed in the farthest drive. The 16-bit (Unibus) controller was known as the RK11 ; it allowed the connection of up to eight RK05 drives. Seeks could be overlapped among the drives but only one drive at

3565-647: The Paris Convention and the Madrid Protocol , simplify the registration and protection of trademarks across multiple countries. Additionally, the TRIPS Agreement sets minimum standards for trademark protection and enforcement that all member countries must follow. The term trademark can also be spelled trade mark in regions such as the EU, UK, and Australia, and as trade-mark in Canada. Despite

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3680-655: The US Air Force , which used large screens and light guns to allow operators to interact with radar data stored in the computer. When the Air Force project wound down, the Lab turned their attention to an effort to build a version of the Whirlwind using transistors in place of vacuum tubes . In order to test their new circuitry, they first built a small 18-bit machine known as TX-0 , which first ran in 1956. When

3795-592: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Registration provides the owner certain exclusive rights and provides legal remedies against unauthorized use by others. Trademark laws vary by jurisdiction but generally allow owners to enforce their rights against infringement, dilution, or unfair competition. International agreements, such as

3910-802: The "11" architecture was soon the industry leader, propelling DEC back to a strong market position. The design was later expanded to allow paged physical memory and memory protection features, useful for multitasking and time-sharing . Some models supported separate instruction and data spaces for an effective virtual address size of 128 KB within a physical address size of up to 4 MB. Smaller PDP-11s, implemented as single-chip CPUs, continued to be produced until 1996, by which time over 600,000 had been sold. The PDP-11 supported several operating systems, including Bell Labs ' new Unix operating system as well as DEC's DOS-11 , RSX-11 , IAS, RT-11 , DSM-11, and RSTS/E . Many early PDP-11 applications were developed using standalone paper-tape utilities. DOS-11

4025-543: The "Digital Laboratory Module" line. The Modules consisted of a number of individual electronic components and germanium transistors mounted to a circuit board , the actual circuits being based on those from the TX-2. The Laboratory Modules were packaged in an extruded aluminum housing, intended to sit on an engineer's workbench, although a rack-mount bay was sold that held nine laboratory modules. They were then connected together using banana plug patch cords inserted at

4140-646: The "basic mark" necessary for Madrid filings. The trademark registration process with the USPTO generally follows these steps: Trademark owners seeking protection in multiple jurisdictions have two options: the Paris route, under the Paris Convention , or the Madrid System , which is administered by WIPO . The Paris route, covering 180 countries and also known as the "direct route," requires filing separate applications with each country’s IP office. In contrast,

4255-439: The "sandbox" for a rising generation of engineers and computer scientists. Large numbers of PDP-11/70s were deployed in telecommunications and industrial control applications. AT&T Corporation became DEC's largest customer. RT-11 provided a practical real-time operating system in minimal memory, allowing the PDP-11 to continue DEC's critical role as a computer supplier for embedded systems . Historically, RT-11 also served as

4370-450: The 14-inch cartridge could not fit in a shirt pocket, unlike DECtape , the RK05 provided personal, portable, and expandable storage. Although a minimal PDP-8/A came with only one drive, most computers were configured with at least one additional storage device; some systems had four drives. Occupying 10.5 inches (6 U ) of space in a standard 19-inch rack , the drive was competitive at

4485-433: The 1950s, wiped out when new technical developments rendered their platforms obsolete, and even large companies like RCA and General Electric were failing to make a profit in the market. The only serious expression of interest came from Georges Doriot and his American Research and Development Corporation (AR&D). Worried that a new computer company would find it difficult to arrange further financing, Doriot suggested

4600-572: The 1980s, culminating in the NVAX microprocessor implementation and VAX 7000/10000 series in the early 1990s. When a DEC research group demonstrated two prototype microcomputers in 1974—before the debut of the MITS Altair —Olsen chose to not proceed with the project. The company similarly rejected another personal computer proposal in 1977. At the time these systems were of limited utility, and Olsen famously derided them in 1977, stating "There

4715-450: The CPU which allowed one to easily see the logic modules plugged into the wire-wrapped backplane of the CPU. Sold standard with 4 kWords of 12-bit core memory and a Teletype Model 33 ASR for basic input/output, the machine listed for only $ 18,000. The PDP-8 is referred to as the first real minicomputer because of its sub-$ 25,000 price. Sales were, unsurprisingly, very strong, and helped by

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4830-429: The European Union requires "genuine use" of the mark within a continuous five-year period following registration to maintain the trademark, with non-use potentially resulting in revocation. The trademark owner must enforce their rights to preserve the trademark's distinctiveness , prevent trademark infringement, and avoid dilution. Enforcement after registration generally involves: Trademark infringement occurs when

4945-468: The Madrid System streamlines the process by allowing a single Madrid application, built on an existing or applied-for national or regional registration (the "basic mark"), to extend protection to up to 131 countries. Unlike patents and copyrights , which have fixed expiration dates, trademark registrations typically have an initial term of 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely, as long as

5060-517: The PC, but was more expensive than, and completely incompatible with IBM PC hardware and software, offering far fewer options for customizing a system. Unlike CP/M and DOS microcomputers, every copy of every program for the Professional had to be provided with a unique key for the particular machine and CPU for which it was bought. At that time this was mainstream policy, because most computer software

5175-630: The PDP-8, all in software. Although not a huge seller, 142 LINC-8s were sold starting at $ 38,500. Like the original LINC to PDP-5 evolution, the LINC-8 was then modified into the single-processor PDP-12 , adding another 1000 machines to the 12-bit family. Newer circuitry designs led to the PDP-8/I and PDP-8/L in 1968. In 1975, one year after an agreement between DEC and Intersil , the Intersil 6100 chip

5290-459: The PDP-9 was a big seller, eventually selling 445 machines, more than all of the earlier models combined. Even while the PDP-9 was being introduced, its replacement was being designed, and was introduced as 1969's PDP-15 , which re-implemented the PDP-9 using integrated circuits in place of modules. Much faster than the PDP-9 even in basic form, the PDP-15 also included a floating point unit and

5405-700: The Professional was a superior machine, running inferior software. In addition, a new user would have to learn an awkward, slow, and inflexible menu-based user interface which appeared to be radically different from PC DOS or CP/M , which were more commonly used on the 8080- and 8088-based microcomputers of the time. A second offering, the DECmate II was the latest version of the PDP-8-based word processors, but not really suited to general computing, nor competitive with Wang Laboratories ' popular word processing equipment. The most popular early DEC microcomputer

5520-447: The RK05 was DEC's counterpart of the high-density RK03, storing 1.2 Mwords. RK05-compatible non-DEC RK05s were produced and marketed. Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation ( DEC / d ɛ k / ), using the trademark Digital , was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen

5635-511: The Rainbow, and in its standard form was the first widely marketed diskless workstation . In 1984, DEC launched its first 10 Mbit/s Ethernet . Ethernet allowed scalable networking, and VAXcluster allowed scalable computing. Combined with DECnet and Ethernet-based terminal servers ( LAT ), DEC had produced a networked storage architecture which allowed them to compete directly with IBM. Ethernet replaced Token Ring , and went on to become

5750-577: The Roman Empire. Other notable trademarks that have been used for a long time include Stella Artois , which claims use of its mark since 1366, and Löwenbräu , which claims use of its lion mark since 1383. The first trademark legislation was passed by the Parliament of England under the reign of King Henry III in 1266, which required all bakers to use a distinctive mark for the bread they sold. The first modern trademark laws emerged in

5865-492: The System Modules to build their "Memory Test" machine for testing core memory systems, selling about 50 of these pre-packaged units over the next eight years. The PDP-1 and LINC computers were also built using System Modules (see below). Modules were part of DEC's product line into the 1970s, although they went through several evolutions during this time as technology changed. The same circuits were then packaged as

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5980-469: The TX-0 successfully proved the basic concepts, attention turned to a much larger system, the 36-bit TX-2 with a then-enormous 64 kWords of core memory . Core was so expensive that parts of TX-0's memory were stripped for the TX-2, and what remained of the TX-0 was then given to MIT on permanent loan. At MIT, Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson noticed something odd: students would line up for hours to get

6095-528: The Trademark Act in 1905. The Lanham Act of 1946 updated the law and has served, with several amendments, as the primary federal law on trademarks. The Trade Marks Act 1938 in the United Kingdom set up the first registration system based on the "intent-to-use" principle. The Act also established an application publishing procedure and expanded the rights of the trademark holder to include

6210-492: The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) in 2023. A comprehensive clearance search involves checking the USPTO database for federally registered and applied-for trademarks, state trademark databases, and the internet to see if someone else has already registered that trademark or a similar one. The search should also include looking at both words and designs. To search for similar designs in

6325-486: The UK Patent Office for the first time. Registration was considered to comprise prima facie evidence of ownership of a trademark and registration of marks began on 1 January 1876. The 1875 Act defined a registrable trade mark as a device or mark, or name of an individual or firm printed in some particular and distinctive manner; or a written signature or copy of a written signature of an individual or firm; or

6440-400: The USPTO database, design search codes must be used. WIPO ’s Global Brand Database provides international access to trademarks and emblems. Trademark owners can either maintain protection at the national level or expand internationally through the Madrid System by building on their national registration. To pursue international protection, a national registration or pending application

6555-584: The United States, trademark rights are established either (1) through first use of the mark in commerce, creating common law rights limited to the geographic areas of use, or (2) through federal registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), with use in commerce required to maintain the registration. Federal registration with the USPTO provides additional benefits, such as: Trademark law grants legal protection to "distinctive" trademarks, which are marks that allow consumers to easily associate them with specific products or services. A strong trademark

6670-436: The ability to address more memory, often by extending the address format to 18 or 24-bits in machines were otherwise similar to their earlier 16-bit designs. In contrast, DEC decided to make a more radical departure. In 1976, they began the design of a machine whose entire architecture was expanded from the 16-bit PDP-11 to a new 32-bit basis. This would allow the addressing of very large memories, which were to be controlled by

6785-515: The adoption of "\" for pathnames in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows as opposed to "/" in Unix . The evolution of the PDP-11 followed earlier systems, eventually including a single-user deskside personal computer form, the MicroPDP-11. In total, around 600,000 PDP-11s of all models were sold, and a wide variety of third-party peripheral vendors had also entered the computer product ecosystem. It

6900-459: The alleged infringer is using the mark to identify the mark owner. One of the most visible proofs that trademarks provide a limited right in the U.S. comes from the comparative advertising that is seen throughout U.S. media. An example of the first type is that although Maytag owns the trademark "Whisper Quiet" for its dishwashers, makers of other products may describe their goods as being "whisper quiet" so long as these products do not fall under

7015-438: The barring of trademark use even in cases where confusion remained unlikely. This Act served as a model for similar legislation elsewhere. The oldest registered trademark has various claimants, enumerated below: Trademark protection can be acquired through registration and/or, in certain countries, through use. Globally, the most common method for establishing trademark rights is registration. Most countries operate under

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7130-512: The basis for the new design, although when they first viewed the proposal, management was not impressed and almost cancelled it. The result was the PDP-11 , released in 1970. It differed from earlier designs considerably. In particular, the new design did not include many of the addressing modes that were intended to make programs smaller in memory, a technique that was widely used on other DEC machines and CISC designs in general. This would mean

7245-451: The better-established vendors like IBM or Honeywell , in spite of its low cost around $ 300,000. Only 23 were sold, or 26 depending on the source, and unlike other models the low sales meant the PDP-6 was not improved with successor versions. However, the PDP-6 is historically important as the platform that introduced "Monitor", an early time-sharing operating system that would evolve into

7360-774: The company's first computer, the PDP-1 . In keeping with Doriot's instructions, the name was an initialism for " Programmable Data Processor ", leaving off the term "computer". As Gurley put it, "We aren't building computers, we're building 'Programmable Data Processors'." The prototype was first shown publicly at the Joint Computer Conference in Boston in December 1959. The first PDP-1 was delivered to Bolt, Beranek and Newman in November 1960, and formally accepted

7475-411: The compatible DECSYSTEM-20 , along with a TOPS-20 operating system that included virtual memory support. The Jupiter Project was supposed to continue the mainframe product line into the future by using gate arrays with an innovative Air Mover Cooling System, coupled with a built-in floating point processing engine called "FBOX". The design was intended for a top tier scientific computing niche, yet

7590-486: The critical performance measurement was based upon COBOL compilation which did not fully utilize the primary design features of Jupiter technology. When the Jupiter Project was cancelled in 1983, some of the engineers adapted aspects of the 36-bit design into a forthcoming 32-bit design, releasing the high-end VAX8600 in 1985. DEC's successful entry into the computer market took place during a fundamental shift in

7705-595: The different spellings, all three terms denote the same concept. In the United States, the Lanham Act defines a trademark as any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination of these things used to identify goods or services. Trademarks help consumers recognize a brand in the marketplace and distinguish it from competitors. A service mark , also covered under the Lanham Act, is a type of trademark used to identify services rather than goods. The term trademark

7820-430: The dominant networking model in use today. In September 1985, DEC became the fifth company to register a .com domain name (dec.com). Trademark The primary function of a trademark is to identify the source of goods or services and prevent consumers from confusing them with those from other sources. Legal protection for trademarks is typically secured through registration with governmental agencies, such as

7935-475: The drive. Prior to the introduction of DEC's own drives, DEC resold two drives from Diablo Data Systems (later acquired by Xerox ), the 1.22 megabyte RK02, of which very few were shipped, and the 2.45 megabyte RK03 (Diablo Model 31). These were interface compatible with the RK05; RK03 and RK05 disks could be interchanged as well. The RK04 was DEC's counterpart to the RK02, for low-density storage of 600 Kwords, and

8050-473: The fact that several competitors had just entered the market with machines aimed directly at the PDP-5's market space, which the PDP-8 trounced. This gave the company two years of unrestricted leadership, and eventually 1450 "straight eight" machines were produced before it was replaced by newer implementations of the same basic design. DEC hit an even lower price-point with the PDP-8/S, the S for "serial". As

8165-475: The first "R" (red) series " Flip-Chip " modules. Later, other Flip-Chip module series provided additional speed, much higher logic density, and industrial I/O capabilities. DEC published extensive data about the modules in free catalogs that became very popular. With the company established and a successful product on the market, DEC turned its attention to the computer market once again as part of its planned "Phase II". In August 1959, Ben Gurley started design of

8280-487: The fledgling company change its business plan to focus less on computers, and even change their name from "Digital Computer Corporation". The pair returned with an updated business plan that outlined two phases for the company's development. They would start by selling computer modules as stand-alone devices that could be purchased separately and wired together to produce a number of different digital systems for lab use. Then, if these "digital modules" were able to build

8395-411: The front of the modules. Three versions were offered, running at 5 MHz (1957), 500 kHz (1959), or 10 MHz (1960). The Modules proved to be in high demand by other computer companies, who used them to build equipment to test their own systems. Despite the recession of the late 1950s, the company sold $ 94,000 worth of these modules during 1958 alone (equivalent to $ 992,700 in 2023), turning

8510-409: The identification of products and services which meet the expectations of consumers as to the quality and other characteristics. Trademarks may also serve as an incentive for manufacturers, providers, or suppliers to consistently provide quality products or services to maintain their business reputation. Furthermore, if a trademark owner does not maintain quality control and adequate supervision about

8625-413: The inspiration for many microcomputer OS's, as these were generally being written by programmers who cut their teeth on one of the many PDP-11 models. For example, CP/M used a command syntax similar to RT-11's, and even retained the awkward PIP program used to copy data from one computer device to another. As another historical footnote, DEC's use of "/" for "switches" (command-line options) would lead to

8740-574: The late 19th century. In France, the first comprehensive trademark system in the world was passed into law in 1857 with the "Manufacture and Goods Mark Act". In Britain, the Merchandise Marks Act 1862 made it a criminal offense to imitate another's trade mark 'with intent to defraud or to enable another to defraud'. The passing of the Trade Marks Registration Act 1875 allowed formal registration of trademarks at

8855-548: The limited information available, they used it to process radar cross section data for the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft . Gordon Bell remembered that it was being used in Oregon some time later, but could not recall who was using it. In November 1962, DEC introduced the $ 65,000 PDP-4 . The PDP-4 was similar to the PDP-1 and used a similar instruction set, but used slower memory and different packaging to lower

8970-441: The lines were shut down in early 1967. Like the PDP-1 before it, the PDP-5 inspired a series of newer models based on the same basic design that would go on to be more famous than its parent. On March 22, 1965, DEC introduced the PDP-8 , which replaced the PDP-5's modules with the new R-series modules using Flip Chips. The machine was re-packaged into a small tabletop case, which remains distinctive for its use of smoked plastic over

9085-496: The machine would cost much less than the larger systems then available, it would also be able to serve users that needed a lower-cost solution dedicated to a specific task, where a larger 36-bit machine would not be needed. In 1957, when the pair and Ken's brother Stan sought capital, they found that the American business community was hostile to investing in computer companies. Many smaller computer companies had come and gone in

9200-438: The machine would spend more time accessing memory, which would slow it down. However, the machine also extended the idea of multiple "General Purpose Registers" (GPRs), which gave the programmer flexibility to use these high-speed memory caches as they needed, potentially addressing the performance issues. A major advance in the PDP-11 design was DEC's Unibus , which supported all peripherals through memory mapping . This allowed

9315-532: The manufacture and provision of products or services supplied by a licensee, such "naked licensing" will eventually adversely affect the owner's rights in the trademark. For US law see, ex. Eva's Bridal Ltd. v. Halanick Enterprises, Inc. 639 F.3d 788 (7th Cor. 2011). This proposition has, however, been watered down by the judgment of the House of Lords in the case of Scandecor Development AB v. Scandecor Marketing AB et al. [2001] UKHL 21; wherein it has been held that

9430-415: The mark remains in continuous use in commerce. If the trademark owner stops using the mark for too long (typically three to five years, depending on the jurisdiction), the trademark rights may be lost. For example, in the United States, trademark rights are based on use in commerce. If a mark is not used for three consecutive years, it is presumed abandoned and becomes vulnerable to challenges. Similarly,

9545-476: The mere fact that a bare license (the equivalent of the United States concept of a naked license) has been granted did not automatically mean that a trademark was liable to mislead. By the same token, trademark holders must be cautious in the sale of their mark for similar reasons as apply to licensing. When assigning an interest in a trademark, if the associated product or service is not transferred with it, then this may be an "assignment-in-gross" and could lead to

9660-545: The mid-1990s, but was too late to save the company. DEC was acquired in June 1998 by Compaq in what was at that time the largest merger in the history of the computer industry. During the purchase, some parts of DEC were sold to other companies; the compiler business and the Hudson Fab were sold to Intel . At the time, Compaq was focused on the enterprise market and had recently purchased several other large vendors. DEC

9775-425: The name implies the /S used a serial arithmetic unit, which was much slower but reduced costs so much that the system sold for under $ 10,000. DEC then used the new PDP-8 design as the basis for a new LINC, the two-processor LINC-8 . The LINC-8 used one PDP-8 CPU and a separate LINC CPU, and included instructions to switch from one to the other. This allowed customers to run their existing LINC programs, or "upgrade" to

9890-458: The next April. The PDP-1 sold in basic form for $ 120,000 (equivalent to $ 9,269,291 in 2023). By the time production ended in 1969, 53 PDP-1s had been delivered. The PDP-1 was supplied standard with 4096 words of core memory , 18-bits per word, and ran at a basic speed of 100,000 operations per second. It was constructed using many System Building Blocks that were packaged into several 19-inch racks . The racks were themselves packaged into

10005-456: The performance niche of the minicomputer was rapidly eroded. By the early 1990s, the company was in turmoil as their mini sales collapsed and their attempts to address this by entering the high-end market with machines like the VAX 9000 were market failures. After several attempts to enter the workstation and file server market, the DEC Alpha product line began to make successful inroads in

10120-421: The possibility of perpetual rights, provided the trademark is continuously used and renewed. However, if a trademark is no longer in use, its registration may be subject to cancellation. Trademarks can also lose protection through genericide , a process where a trademark becomes so widely used to refer to a category of goods or services that it loses its distinctiveness and legal protection. A well-known example

10235-581: The price. Like the PDP-1, about 54 PDP-4s were eventually sold, most to a customer base similar to the original PDP-1. In 1964, DEC introduced its new Flip Chip module design, and used it to re-implement the PDP-4 as the PDP-7 . The PDP-7 was introduced in December 1964, and about 120 were eventually produced. An upgrade to the Flip Chip led to the R series, which in turn led to the PDP-7A in 1965. The PDP-7

10350-527: The registration of the trademark. A comprehensive clearance search can help avoid costly and time-consuming issues, such as refusal to register, opposition or cancellation proceedings, or a trademark infringement lawsuit. In the United States, the USPTO maintains a publicly accessible database of registered trademarks. This database can be searched using the Trademark Search system, which replaced

10465-425: The relevant national authority. Using the ® symbol for unregistered trademarks is misleading and can be treated as unfair business practice. It may also result in civil or criminal penalties. A brand is a marketing concept that reflects how consumers perceive a product or service. It has a much wider meaning and refers to the proprietary visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that customers associate with

10580-426: The same article. For example, the particular design of a bottle may qualify for copyright protection as a non-utilitarian [sculpture], or trademark protection based on its shape, or the ' trade dress ' appearance of the bottle as a whole may be protectable. Titles and character names from books or movies may also be protectable as trademarks while the works from which they are drawn may qualify for copyright protection as

10695-405: The same category of goods the trademark is protected under. An example of the second type is that Audi can run advertisements saying that a trade publication has rated an Audi model higher than a BMW model since they are only using "BMW" to identify the competitor. In a related sense, an auto mechanic can truthfully advertise that he services Volkswagens , and a former Playboy Playmate of

10810-607: The same design. During construction of the prototype PDP-1, some design work was carried out on a 24-bit PDP-2, and the 36-bit PDP-3. Although the PDP-2 never proceeded beyond the initial design, the PDP-3 found some interest and was designed in full. Only one PDP-3 appears to have been built, in 1960, by the CIA's Scientific Engineering Institute (SEI) in Waltham, Massachusetts . According to

10925-486: The source of goods or services can serve as a trademark. In addition to words, slogans, designs, or combinations of these, trademarks can also include non-traditional marks like sounds, scents, or colors. Under the broad heading of trademarks, there are several specific types commonly encountered, such as trade dress, collective marks, and certification marks: To maintain distinctiveness , trademarks should function as adjectives, not as nouns or verbs, and be paired with

11040-488: The stone's origin and the workers responsible. Wine amphorae marked with seals were also found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun , who ruled ancient Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Over 2,000 years ago, Chinese manufacturers sold goods marked with identifying symbols in the Mediterranean region. Trademarks have also been discovered on pottery, porcelain, and swords produced by merchants in ancient Greece and

11155-437: The time. The cartridge contained a single, 14" aluminum platter coated with iron oxide in an epoxy binder. The two ferrite and ceramic read/write heads were pressed towards the disk by spring arms, floating on an air bearing maintained by the rotation of the disk. They were positioned by a voice coil actuator using a linear optical encoder for feedback. The track density was 100 tracks-per-inch. The bit density along

11270-406: The track was about 2200 bits-per-inch. Discrete electronics computed the velocity profile for seeks commanded by the controller. An absolute filter ( HEPA filter ) provided pressurized air to the cartridge, excluding most contaminants that would otherwise cause head crashes . When used on 16-bit systems such as the PDP-11 , the drive stored roughly 1.2 megawords. When used on 12-bit systems such as

11385-489: The underlying organization of the machines from word lengths based on 6-bit characters to those based on 8-bit words needed to support ASCII . DEC began studies of such a machine, the PDP-X, but Ken Olsen did not support it as he could not see how it offered anything their existing 12-bit or 18-bit machines didn't. This led the leaders of the PDP-X project to leave DEC and start Data General , whose 16-bit Data General Nova

11500-467: The widely used TOPS-10 . When newer Flip Chip packaging allowed the PDP-6 to be re-implemented at a much lower cost, DEC took the opportunity to refine their 36-bit design, introducing the PDP-10 in 1968. The PDP-10 was as much a success as the PDP-6 was a commercial failure; about 700 mainframe PDP-10s were sold before production ended in 1984. The PDP-10 was widely used in university settings, and thus

11615-455: Was a major player overseas where Compaq had less presence. However, Compaq had little idea what to do with its acquisitions, and soon found itself in financial difficulty of its own. Compaq subsequently merged with Hewlett-Packard (HP) in May 2002. Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson were two engineers who had been working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the lab's various computer projects. The Lab

11730-491: Was a moving head magnetic disk drive manufactured by DEC . It stored approximately 2.5 MB on a 14", single-platter IBM-2315 -style front-loading removable disk cartridge. The cartridge permitted users to have relatively unlimited off-line storage and to have very fast access to such data. The PDP systems to which it could be attached had numerous operating systems for each computer architecture, so by changing disk pack another operating system could also be booted. Although

11845-478: Was either bought from the company that built the computer or custom-constructed for one client. However, the emerging third-party software industry disregarded the PDP-11/Professional line and concentrated on other microcomputers where distribution was easier. At DEC itself, creating better programs for the Professional was not a priority, perhaps from fear of cannibalizing the PDP-11 line. As a result,

11960-507: Was even sold in kit form as the Heathkit H11 , although it proved too expensive for Heathkit 's traditional hobbyist market. The introduction of semiconductor memory in the early 1970s, and especially dynamic RAM shortly thereafter, led to dramatic reductions in the price of memory as the effects of Moore's Law were felt. Within years, it was common to equip a machine with all the memory it could address, typically 64 KB on 16-bit machines. This led vendors to introduce new designs with

12075-623: Was eventually ported along with MS-DOS 2.0 and introduced in late 1983. Although the Rainbow generated some press, it was unsuccessful due to its high price and lack of marketing and sales support. By late 1983 IBM was outselling DEC's personal computers by more than ten to one. A further system was introduced in 1986 as the VAXmate , which included Microsoft Windows 1.0 and used VAX/VMS-based file and print servers along with integration into DEC's own DECnet -family, providing LAN/WAN connection from PC to mainframe or supermini. The VAXmate replaced

12190-636: Was followed by the even more successful VT100 and its follow-ons, making DEC one of the largest terminal vendors in the industry. This was supported by a line of inexpensive computer printers , the DECwriter line. With the VT and DECwriter series, DEC could now offer a complete top-to-bottom system from computer to all peripherals, which formerly required collecting the required devices from different suppliers. The VAX processor architecture and family of systems evolved and expanded through several generations during

12305-731: Was initially available only to DEC employees. It was only after IBM had successfully launched the IBM PC in 1981 that DEC responded with their own systems. In 1982, DEC introduced not one, but three incompatible machines which were each tied to different proprietary architectures. The first, the DEC Professional , was based on the PDP-11/23 (and later, the 11/73) running the RSX-11M+ derived, but menu-driven, P/OS ("Professional Operating System"). This DEC machine easily outperformed

12420-498: Was launched, effectively a PDP-8 on a chip. This was a way to allow PDP-8 software to be run even after the official end-of-life announcement for the DEC PDP-8 product line. While the PDP-5 introduced a lower-cost line, 1963's PDP-6 was intended to take DEC into the mainframe market with a 36-bit machine. However, the PDP-6 proved to be a "hard sell" with customers, as it offered few obvious advantages over similar machines from

12535-419: Was only surpassed by another DEC product, the late-1970s VAX "supermini" systems that were designed to replace the PDP-11. Although a number of competitors had successfully competed with Digital through the 1970s, the VAX cemented the company's place as a leading vendor in the computer space. As microcomputers improved in the late 1980s, especially with the introduction of RISC -based workstation machines,

12650-472: Was president until he was forced to resign in 1992, after the company had gone into precipitous decline. The company produced many different product lines over its history. It is best known for the work in the minicomputer market starting in the early 1960s. The company produced a series of machines known as the PDP line, with the PDP-8 and PDP-11 being among the most successful minis in history. Their success

12765-539: Was released in 1969 and was a huge success. The success of the Nova finally prompted DEC to take the switch seriously, and they began a crash program to introduce a 16-bit machine of their own. The new system was designed primarily by Harold McFarland, Gordon Bell , Roger Cady, and others. The project was able to leap forward in design with the arrival of Harold McFarland, who had been researching 16-bit designs at Carnegie Mellon University . One of his simpler designs became

12880-404: Was the PDP-11's first disk operating system, but was soon supplanted by more capable systems. RSX provided a general-purpose multitasking environment and supported a wide variety of programming languages . IAS was a time-sharing version of RSX-11D. Both RSTS and Unix were time-sharing systems available to educational institutions at little or no cost, and these PDP-11 systems were destined to be

12995-454: Was the basis of many advances in computing and operating system design during the 1970s. DEC later re-branded all of the models in the 36-bit series as the "DECsystem-10", and PDP-10s are generally referred to by the model of their CPU, starting with the "KA10", soon upgraded to the "KI10" (I:Integrated circuit); then to "KL10" (L:Large-scale integration ECL logic ); also the "KS10" (S: Small form factor ). Unified product line upgrades produced

13110-535: Was the dual-processor (Z80 and 8088) Rainbow 100 , which ran the 8-bit CP/M operating system on the Z80 and the 16-bit CP/M-86 operating system on the Intel 8088 processor. It could also run a UNIX System III implementation called VENIX . Applications from standard CP/M could be re-compiled for the Rainbow, but by this time users were expecting custom-built (pre-compiled binary) applications such as Lotus 1-2-3 , which

13225-441: Was used as a printer . The Soroban system was notoriously unreliable, and often replaced with a modified Friden Flexowriter , which also contained its own punched tape system. A variety of more-expensive add-ons followed, including magnetic tape systems, punched card readers and punches, and faster punched tape and printer systems. When DEC introduced the PDP-1, they also mentioned larger machines at 24, 30 and 36 bits, based on

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