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Lindows Legal Challenge
pphrdza was one of several readers who sent in the latest on the Lindows front - it's a Ny Times (Free reg. blah blah) article entitled Glass Panes and Software. Not a whole lot of new information - more around the legal challenge blah blah.
That does not work for me, but this does
J'aime mieux les méchants que les imbéciles, parce qu'ils se reposent. -- Alexandre Dumas
No, he should chage it to "Lill Lates" so he dosen't get sued.
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
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Sometimes I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's disease, but no one will notice.
no, no, no, Gil Bates!
Okay, you take your proudct, that directly competes with Microsoft's. You change one letter of it, and market it. What do you think is going to happen?
The $200 and $300 computers are perfect for those people who just want to visit this new-fangled internet thing, or type something up. It provides a low-cost, low-risk entry into the digital world. This is why Microsoft feels threatened.
Now, Lindows is not Windows, that is true. It may not be able to run as many programs, etc, fill in whatever you want, but the average super-low cost user doesn't need this. All they want is word processing, and internet access. If you don't want to spend $400 For Office XP, and $200 for Windows XP, because all you want to do is type and surf, you will opt for the PC that costs less than your OS.
I've had trouble explaining to people how 129$ up front and 75$ a year from there on in is "Free" software.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
The trademark for "Windows" is in trouble because the word was used to describe computer GUI software long before Microsoft introduced their product.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
I believe Lindows has more hand. Not only was windows a generic term for glass in walls, it was also a generic term for a software interface. It was used by many companies. Microsoft has no rights over that.
Linux is only free if your time has no value. Windows is only free if you threaten to use Linux.
The irony here, of course, is that it was Xerox that pioneered the GUI ...
Before anyone mods up a stupid comment - would you be up-in-arms is Microsoft's next server platform was called Minux? Thanks. Next.
Score:-1, Funny
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
But, it could be used for an anchor on one of those ships. ;)
Michael Loves Me!
What are you talking about? The article is about trademark law. Back in the day, Microsoft was granted a trademark on the name Windows. Now, you can't trademark a word commonly associated with the product you are making. For example, I couldn't trademark the name "ice cream" for my ice cream product. The word is commonly used for that already, and this has two negative effects. One, I gain value by associating my trademark with the words defining the product. Two, I shut out all my competitors from being able to market "ice cream".
In Microsoft's case, the answer will be pretty clear. The trademark on "Windows" should never have been granted in the first place. It was already a common name in computer software. The fact that Lindows changes one letter is irrelevant if the Windows trademark is invalid.
And the preliminary injunction said it was invalid, and allowed Lindows to use its name pending trial. Expect Microsoft to get slammed. But don't worry - this will not affect trademarks on WindowsXP, Windows2000, Windows3.1, or Windows NT, each of which can stand alone as its own trademark.
But the generic term Windows will be gone. And plenty of other computer manufacturers will be quick to use Windows in the names of their products.
from the article: ..and how many of those people used computers before 1991 (let alone the early 80's when computers were cost prohibitive) , and how many of those people have ever directly used an os other than a M$ product? what none? so a bunch of people that have only used "windows" thinks that "windows" is a term that M$ pioneered.. go figure. Maybe if they didn't capitolize it just windows, people would remeber they have em in their house ("but i think maybe M$ has the rights to them too"). I'm gonna start a new product called Doors, oh lemme guess that'll dilute windows won't it... geez
"consumer survey that found that 83 percent of people who used PC's at work and 73 percent of PC users at home regarded Windows as a Microsoft trademark and not a generic name
"
"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
Okay, you take your proudct, that directly competes with Microsoft's. You change one letter of it, and market it. What do you think is going to happen?
You are not accutately describing the situation. Windows is a generic term. Trademarking windows is like me going and trademarking "wiper blades." It's a generic term already in common use, just like windows was. It shouldn't matter if my wiperblades company gets 90% market share, I picked a generic term.
BTW Xwindows only differs from windows by only letter too, so even with your logic MS should loose their trademark.
Life is too short to proofread.
Windows Commander is now Total Commander!
Why this name change? In Summer 2002, we received a letter from attorneys representing the owner of the trademark Windows. In this letter they expressed concerns that our usage of the name could lead to confusion with their own products. In particular, people could think that our program could be from their company. We were indirectly asked to change the name of our software.
Because Windows is registered as a trademark, we didn't want to risk a lawsuit, and decided to change the name. It's important to mention that we have been treated in a very fair way: There have never been any legal threats, and we could negotiate a transitional period until the end of the year. We ask you to consider this, and not to make any negative comments - especially in the forum. Because we are legally responsible for its contents, it could bring us into deep legal troubles. Please also do not contact us because of the new name. As a small company, we couldn't handle the big amount of messages. We will not give more information about the name change anyway.
The original name Windows Commander was chosen more by coincidence. There were already many Commander-style programs for DOS (e.g. DOS Command Center, DOS Controller, and the Norton Commander), but hardly any for Windows. The word Commander was standing already at this time - 9 years ago - for a whole class of file managers with 2 windows side by side. Windows Commander was one of the very first such programs for Windows, therefore the chosen name was quite logical.
The new name Total Commander was chosen together with a trademark attorney. Total Commander was also registered as a trademark. Thanks to the new name, we now also have new possibilities to offer similar products for other platforms, e.g. for PocketPC or Linux. The name should stand for the fact that the program puts you in total command over your files. It allows you to see what is really saved on the harddisk, and helps you to manipulate all files directly.
We can only speculate why the owner of the name 'Windows' has become active just now (after 9 years). On one side, they have been put under pressure by the usage of their (slightly changed) name by the Linux community. There have been reproaches that they wouldn't be actively defending their name, and losing their trademark this way. On the other side, someone else had just registered the domain www.windowscommander.com (which we own ourselves in the meantime). The company may have noticed us because of this registration.
Woopty Doo Basil, what does it all mean?!
Read the article it states that there are different levels of trademark protection. Quote from the article. Trademark law affords the greatest protection to words that are fanciful or arbitrary, like Apple. Next in line for legal protection are names that are suggestive of what a product does, like Huggies. Next comes a descriptive term, which describes an attribute of a product, and last come names that are generic, or widely understood to mean a category of products. Generic terms cannot be trademarked. So Apple has it clearly, as the word Apple has nothing to do with computers, same with Armada, Expedition is use suggestive and Perl is arbitrary. Anyways, taking away the Windows trademark wouldn't nessesarly keep microsoft from calling it that. And "Microsoft Windows" would still be trademarkd, as well as "Windows XP" as the XP makes it unique.
Microsoft's next trademark: Mouse(R)
:)
Lindow's next product: Louse
Douglas Engelbart (the inventor of the original 'mouse' back in the 1960s) might well have something to say on that one...
Besides, it's always been a Microsoft Mouse, as opposed to the Apple Mouse or any of the myriad other mice out there. Bit late for them to try and trademark that one. Unless, of course, they manage to get the same guy that granted them the 'Windows' trademark...
-MT.
I like Gill Bates better.
Then hire a servant, "Master Bates, dinner is served.."
Uhhh, back in the day? According to the article Microsoft first applied for a trademark in 1993 and was rejected. Borland had some pending trademarks on names which included Windows. Microsoft bought those pending trademarks, and in 1995 was issued a trademark on "Windows." Hardly back in the day. ;-)
Woopty Doo Basil, what does it all mean?!
I've been looking forward to someone building a Windows comptable GUI over OpenBSD and calling it 'Gates'...
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Microsoft Windows IS software that creates windows.
Then as long as Robertson's at it, he might as well sue them for Word, Publisher, Office, Flight Simulator, Media Player, Money, Commerce Server, and SQL Server. All registered trademarks, all describing either common English words or the general software functions...
From the article:
If you want the actual references,you will have to dig up the court documents yourself.I feel like picking a fight with everyone who thinks they are right. - Rainmakers
New analogy needed: Free as in Speech, Free as in Beer, or Free as in "not".
sic transit gloria mundi
It seems Microsoft has a habbit of naming products "Microsoft Word", "Microsoft Flight Simulator", "Microsoft Windows", etc., and then dropping the "Microsoft" part to attempt to get the public to associate the generic term with Microsoft. I think it would be appropriate if the practice came back to haunt them.
No, the argument would be more like this...
The McDonald's Co. opens stores called "McDonald's Restaurant", and gets a trademark on "McDonald's Restaurant". Later, they get a trademark on "Restaurant", and begin calling all their, ahem, restaurants, "Restaurant". Still later, some company calls their restaurant "Lestaurant" and gets sued by McDonald's because it's only one letter different than "Restaurant". Lestaurant turns around and sues McDonald's saying that "Restaurant" is a generic term to start with and that their trademark is invalid.
Now, if you don't like my point, allow me to cut and paste, and replace McDonalds with Microsoft, Restaurant with Windows, etc...
The Microsoft Co. creates a windows product called called "Microsoft Windows", and gets a trademark on "Microsoft Windows". Later, they get a trademark on "Windows", and begin calling all their, ahem, windows products, "Windows". Still later, some company calls their windows product "Lindows" and gets sued by Microsoft because it's only one letter different than "Windows". Lindows turns around and sues Microsoft saying that "Windows" is a generic term to start with and that their trademark is invalid.
Or something like that...
This article about the Glass and Panes lawsuit does not require registration.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
prior to windows 95, i always heard dos heads saying that windows was better because it had a cli.
with linux, the complaint is that it is too hard to use for newbies because of the cli.
now that linux is closer to windows (needs to catch up to the mac still - that's the real bar to shoot for) for end user friendliness, the windows sheep need something else to criticise linux on.
first they fight on licenses, but now with lindows we see the height of hypocricy: these linux people are marketing in an unfair way.
oh really? obviously lindows is not the entire linux community - not even close - but it's a joy to see ms being tripped up by their own tactics. someone is playing against them on the marketing front - good. it's the only area ms has outplayed the competition they've trampled/bought/stolen. and now someone is trying to fight back on that front so the dosheads start whining.
oh boo hoo.
now, stfu, i want to enjoy this ass-kicking in peace.
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Well, just because Microsoft pissed its money away associating themselves with a generic term doesn't mean they should get trademark protection. If I spend millions of dollars on something that isn't mine in the first place (especialy something that is a public trust), I can't make it mine. That principle would imply that anyone could throw enough promotional money around and eventually claim any word of the English language.* They screwed up. I'm not saying they should give up; "Windows" is too valuable to them and they owe it to their shareholders to try to keep it. But they should lose.
* Otherwise I've got dibs on "the"
You have a choice: tax and spend Democrats, or borrow and spend Republicans. Choose wisely.
...that Bill Gates purjured himself? The quote on page 2:
:-)
"In written testimony last month, Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman asserted that...Windows is a layer of software between an operating system and an application...."
In the antitrust testimony Bill Gates was very emphatic that Windows and the OS were the same thing and could not be separated. Maybe someone should pass this along to those states which are still in litigation. Be interesting to see the response Mr. Gates has on this.
Someone put a black hole in my pocket and now I'm broke.
Lindows IS getting a leg up because of MS "Windows"; they sought the association by choosing the name. Now, because Microsoft went with a term that is both generic and heavily promoted by them, Lindows gets a substantial and probably legal boost.
:)
OK by me, but how tragic for Microsoft. If only they had called it Wacintosh in the first place.
BTW, one bright spot: McDonald's Restaurant didn't have a claim against a long-standing McDonald's eatery in an Illinois town, operated by a guy named McDonald. Big McDonald threatened and cajoled little McDonald, and lost. Eventually the McDonald's franchise in town closed, too. So there.
Still later, some company calls their restaurant "Lestaurant"
But there would be a difference, because a Lestaurant would serve chinese food.
I'll get my coat.
Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.