Nowadays, Henson Associates wouldn't sue a 45 year old file transfer protocol over it, either; their rights to a name would generally not be universal to that degree, as long as it doesn't proliferate into a collection of software named after individual muppets. The letter of "sure that's fine" saves them legal fees each decade someone discovers it and I assume also exempts this single case from counting as trademark dilution.
that certainly would never happen nowadays.