Terracotta    Perracotta

The Perracotta project has been known as the Terracotta project. We chose Terracotta for several reasons. First, the project is about a tool for mining specifications just as mining terracotta. Second, terracotta warriors created around 200 BC by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, are a symbol of time. This coincides with our interests in temporal specifications. Third, Jinlin Yang, the main designer and developer of the project, comes from Xi'an city, where the terracotta warriors were discovered.

On Feburary 3rd, 2006, we received an inquiry from the Terracotta Inc.. They informed us that "Terracotta" (as that term applies to software) is a registered trademark of the Terracotta, Inc., which was founded in 2003. Following is the original email we received. In order to avoid legal conflicts, we agreed to rename the project to Perracotta even though we really like the original name. In Perracotta, the "P" stands for "property".

Dear Professor Evans,

My name is Tim McIntyre, and I work as General Counsel for Terracotta, Inc., a Java software start-up based in San Francisco (see www.terracottatech.com <http://www.terracottatech.com/>). I came across your and your colleagues’ webpage the other day (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/terracotta), and while I applaud your impeccable taste in naming your project, I am duty-bound to advise you that “Terracotta” (as that term applies to software) is a registered trademark of Terracotta, Inc., which was founded in 2003. In this regard, I am concerned that users who are looking for information about our products on the Internet could be confused by your team’s webpage.

We are all big fans of Virginia’s CS department here at Terracotta (one of our top engineers earned his CS degree from there, among other such connections) and we certainly don’t want to create any undue difficulty for anyone. We think that the simplest solution would be for your team to rename your project. Would that be possible? Please let me know what you think. I can be reached either at this email address, or in my office at 415-738-xxxx. Thank you.

Regards,

Tim McIntyre
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Timothy McIntyre
Terracotta, Inc.
650 Townsend Street, Suite 325
San Francisco, California 94103

tel: (415) 738-xxxx
fax: (415) 738-xxxx
web: http://www.terracottatech.com