Who is the rightful owner of a name or similarly, a piece of land, or an idea, patent?
The first settler?
The first settler that held it for at least a year, 10 or 100?
The most powerful entity claiming it?
In the modern western mind there is the notion that whoever grabs it first rightfully owns it. Which is a simple rule, but encourages squatting and holding but not using. The squatter can then hold ransom against somebody who would be the rightful owner.
At least with patents or electromagnetic spectrum there is a time of expiration. You come first and claim it for a few years after which it becomes public domain. Or we hold an auction each 5 years to maintain stable and efficient allocation of a finite and scarce resource.
With concepts like programming languages, the case with stronger base wins, like in the example of Go. People associate the Go label with Pike's Golang, not with the previous Go!.
The first settler? The first settler that held it for at least a year, 10 or 100? The most powerful entity claiming it?
In the modern western mind there is the notion that whoever grabs it first rightfully owns it. Which is a simple rule, but encourages squatting and holding but not using. The squatter can then hold ransom against somebody who would be the rightful owner.
At least with patents or electromagnetic spectrum there is a time of expiration. You come first and claim it for a few years after which it becomes public domain. Or we hold an auction each 5 years to maintain stable and efficient allocation of a finite and scarce resource.
With concepts like programming languages, the case with stronger base wins, like in the example of Go. People associate the Go label with Pike's Golang, not with the previous Go!.