Lindows is OK: Dutch court
p2pnet.net News:- Could Michael Robertson’s Lindows/Linspire Linux OS finally be gaining traction against Microsoft?
Bill and the Boyz have been lambasting Lindows-that-was on the grounds that it’s too close to Windows for comfort. And they’ve been winning.
However, accoding to a Dutch court, the Lindows name doesn’t violate Microsoft’s Windows trademark, says an IDG News Service story here, continuing:
“After it lost an earlier case in the same Amsterdam court over the use of the Lindows name, Lindows changed the name of its operating system product and corresponding Web site to Linspire. However, it kept Lindows as its company name. Microsoft sued Lindows again, charging that use of Lindows as its company name also constitutes an infringement on its Windows trademark. The Amsterdam District Court disagrees.”
But, “Not every use of the business name Lindows infringes on the Windows trademark,’ Judge Sj. A. Rullmann says, states the IDG story.
May 28th, 2004 at 4:22 pm
good for Robertson. I’m starting to think he will be successful in the US in proving that Windows should never have been granted as a trademark.
lousy thing is that Lindows has already been railroaded in various parts of Europe b/c of MS’s legal stick weilding and threats and limitless dolla’s…
May 29th, 2004 at 4:06 pm
Surprise! Microsoft might take a look at the dictionary, and a lot of other businesses might do the same. Windows, as in the name of the OS, should really be changed. If they came up with a better name that was more original, it might actually help them stop bloating their software and truly become an innovative company, rather than the ‘Big Brother’ watching to make sure that whenever you open a Window, it’s a Microsoft one. Windowing style front ends for an operating system have been ubiquitous for many years, and the only reason MS had such a big start on the market was their outright piracy of the windowing paradigm from the Palo Alto Research folk. If it weren’t for the dumpster diving and other assorted mopery and dopery that MS has engaged in for the last many years, MS would probably be long gone.