The Linux Mark Institute (LMI, fully "LMI Oregon, LLC"[1]) is an organization which administers the "Linux" trademark on behalf of Linus Torvalds for computer software which includes the Linux kernel, computer hardware utilizing Linux-based software, and for services associated with the implementation and documentation of Linux-based products.
The assignment of the trademark to Torvalds occurred after a lawsuit against attorney William R. Della Croce Jr., of Boston, who had registered the trademark in the US in September 1995[3] and began in 1996 to send letters to various Linux distributors, demanding ten percent of royalties from sales of Linux products.
[4] A petition against Della Croce's practices was started,[5] and in early 1997, WorkGroup Solutions, Yggdrasil, Linux Journal, Linux International, and Torvalds appealed the original trademark assignment as "fraudulent and obtained under false pretenses".
[5] By November, the case was settled and Torvalds owned the trademark.
[3] LMI originally charged a nominal sublicensing fee for use of the Linux name as part of trademarks,[4] but later changed this in favor of offering a free, perpetual worldwide sublicense.