- John McAfee has said that Intel is suing him over the use of his own name in his new product, GhostbyMcAfee.
- Intel bough the antivirus-making company in 2010 for $7.68 billion
- The software designer cannot use his surname in any other products
John McAfee is looking for a new name for his Ghost protocol after he announced that Intel is suing him due to his use of his own name. The former presidential candidate, whose ‘Ghost’ project is a privacy-focused blockchain, cryptocurrency, and cell phone data service, signed over use of his name in products when Intel purchased the McAfee license in 2010, and as such Intel have told him that he can’t use the name on its own in any future endeavors. As a result, the Ghost protocol creator has turned to Twitter to suggest replacements for GhostbyMcAfee.
McAfee Can’t Use His Own Name
McAfee launched the Ghost blockchain and cryptocurrency in May and followed it up with a cell phone data service earlier this month. The full name of the offering is GhostbyMcAfee, but this won’t be the case much longer after the legendary security software renegade revealed that Intel aren’t taking kindly to the name of their product being used:
Intel has sued me over the name “GhostbyMcAfee”.
The buyers of my old company are too foolish to understand that whatever I create only helps their now pitiful product.
Anyway …
“GhostbyJohnMcAfee”, while acceptable, seems clunky.
Any suggestions?
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) July 22, 2020
Intel purchased McAfee, LLC for $7.68 billion in 2010. As McAfee himself has now realized, the terms of the contract mean that he cannot use his name in any branding of his own products, essentially meaning he has sold the right to his own name.
A Price Worth Paying
With McAfee’s own suggestion of ‘GhostbyJohnMcAfee’ clearly not satisfying him as a potential substitute, it has been down to the Twittersphere to come up with suggestions. So far, none seem to have tickled his fancy however, with GhostbyJMcAfee, JMG, TheJMcAfeeGhost all being either rejected or ignored.
Whatever the maverick software designer eventually decides to change the name to, any amount of hassle required to rename the protocol is a price worth paying considering what he received in order to give up his name in 2010.
