For many years, the term "open source" has been subject to abuse. Despite efforts by the OSI (Open Source Initiative) to trademark the phrase, the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) claimed the phrase was too generic to be trademarked, thereby weakening efforts to guard against its improper usage, according to Danese Cooper, secretary and treasurer of the OSI board.

Now, however, after much more frequent assaults on the phrase, Michael Tiemann, president of the OSI and Red Hat's VP of open source affairs, is coming out strongly in its defense.