Slashdot Mirror
Lindows Takes a Hit in the Netherlands
diersing writes "The Register has the latest on it. Resellers of the Linux distribution Lindows in the Netherlands were ordered today to stop selling the product. Amsterdam judge Rullmann agreed with Microsoft that in many ways Lindows is 'profiting from the success of Windows' by infringing on Microsoft's trademarks." This seems to be a rather common occurrence lately.
...how are they supposed to mimick windows? You don't have to reboot Lindows every time you move the mouse, so THAT can't be the point :-)
Look, this thing is totally safe! Built it myself, you know. You just press that button like this and then turn that lev
I'm not really good at translating but I'll give it a try
Loosely translated from a article on WebWereld (dutch IT news site)
Dutch judge prohibits the use of the trademark Lindows
This conclusion was made by the Dutch judge Sj. Rullmann in Amsterdam on Thursday.
Microsoft claimed during court that Lindows violated its trademark and that the name Lindows is too confusing in comparison to its own product Windows.
"Lindows profits unlawfully from the success of Windows because Lindows.com too explicitly puts its product in the market as a product which is capable of running both platforms", according to the judge.
[I don't even understand the next line in Dutch but I'll try: ] Moreover Lindows distinguishes itself [huh?] from Windows because of its name [and] Lindows takes unjustified advantage from the [fuck knows: undistinguishablility?] and reputation of the brand Windows.
Lindows.com is summoned to cease the violation of the trademark infringement on the brand Windows. The software company of Michael Robertson is also no longer allowed to advertise in the Netherlands.
Furthermore the four resellers in the Netherlands must stop with the sale and advertisements of Lindows products.
Also the judge ruled that Lindows must ensure that internet users from the Benelux [BElgium NEtherlands LUXembourg] can no longer access the site www.lindows.com.
This verdict corresponds to earlier rulings of judges in Finland and Sweden. There the use of the names LindowsOS and Lindows became prohibited in December as well.
Lindows.com could change its name in the Benelux. According to Erik Vollebregt Clifford Change, the question whether this will happen is uncertain because the sales in the Benelux are not high, but it is up to the lawyer's office of Lindows.com [in the USA]
Vollebregt: "We just sent the sentence to USA. Hence it still must be determined whether Lindows thinks it makes sense and money worth spending to appeal to the verdict"
"Microsoft is using lawsuits as a battering ram to smash Linux, to prevent it from reaching retail stores".
I've never heard of any other companies trying this.
I'm going to start visiting that site Blashdot.org
The Californian company isn't even allowed to advertise in the Low Countries any longer and, even more remarkable, the judge has ordered Lindows to make its Web site inaccessible to Benelux-based web users.
Another case of Microsoft pushing Security Through Obscurity?
Lots of people will get to hear 'Lindows' as a result of MS legal action who wouldn't have normally.
As they say, all publicity is good publicity.
I wonder what Michael's next trick will be.
... but do you have to type in the URL's? :)
-- No sig today
I think either: .. Aha... ha...)
(1) The marketing people are lazy
(2) They feel they can get a leg up by sounding more like "Windows"
(3) They thought Microsoft will be nice to them. (BWAHHHHAHHAAHAA
Throw in the fact that Lindows looks SUSPICIOUSLY like Windows XP, and I think Lindows doesn't really have a leg to stand on.
I've always thought Lindows and "LindowsOS" as they prefer it to be called sounded rather silly anyway. I think Lindows is a nice idea, and a good product, and an excellent way to get more people using Linux. However, much as I dislike some of Microsoft's business practices, I do think the name is too close, and I can see the judgement's point.
;)
Why not just call it Winux instead?
Then it sounds like you're just Chekov from Star Trek saying "Linux."
Could you argue that Linux profits from the success for Unix because it sounds similar?
The whole point of the judgement is that the judge thinks that Microsoft has proven that Lindows chose the name Lindows because of its relation to Windows. And, since Windows is a registered trademark in the Netherlands, this is obviously an infringement. Remember, Windows in Dutch has no other meaning as it does in English; it is not a common word.
Nobody can really claim that they chose Lindows for any other reason than the similarity to Windows. They could have chosen a lot of other cool names as Xandros and others have done. They didn't and they made the choice realizing that they might get into legal trouble for doing so.
Although I detest this verdict, I cannot say Lindows didn't have it coming. The name is a deliberate gamble. And when you gamble, you win some and you lose some. They won a lot free publicity all around the globe. Now they lost a case. Big deal. It's all in the game.
Being well balanced is overrated. -- John Carmack
I guess this wouldn't matter so much if only someone would have Microsoft's trademark scrapped - 'windows' can be used to describe a common feature in pretty much all modern OS's.
What are they gonna do if they keep selling Lindows there? Throw a wooden clog at them? I mean really...who throws a wooden shoe?
Another option could be to put Michael Robertson up on one of their windmills.
___ Shout Central - Crushes your nuts!
I am afraid that this is not going to be a very popular opinion on /., but I have to say I agree with the judge.
Lindows makes a product that is similar in name, appearance, and function to MicroSoft's. They have advertised it as an alternative to Windows. They are clearly out to get people to switch from Windows to LindowsOS by imitating MicroSoft's product. They are just asking for it.
By the way, it's a tried and true tactic:
1. Piss people off
2. Get publicity
3. PROFIT!!!
</rant>
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
LinuxWorld hits the nail on the head when linking this morning's disturbing victory with an eerily appropriate statement by Sun's Java guru James Gosling this week about how Sun's own competition with Microsoft is "a life-and-death kind of struggle." Gosling's point was that "if [Microsoft] succeed, the whole ecosystem that the rest of the industry feeds off goes away." Lindows' Michael Robertson clearly views the situation identically, saying: "The ruling will deny the Netherlands the cost- savings that desktop Linux currently offers to approximately 18 million people worldwide, leaving vulnerable and expensive Microsoft software as the only option for computer consumers in the Netherlands."
change the name to Lindos or LindOS, in spanish it means samething like pretty
The Judge's ruling regarding Lindows' free-riding is clear. In the United States, where the standard is likelihood of confusion, that element is really a slam-dunk. Virtually identically spelled, identically sounding names for the same class of product, and designed, in large part, to provide a substitute for the original product. Slam-dunk.
Where Lindows has had excellent success in the US, and more power for them for taking on this monster to do this, is by arguing that the term "Windows" is generic for a GUI-based operating system. If they win, Microsoft loses huge, just huge. Now only would Lindows be allowed to continue, but Microsoft would lose the Windows trademark as against anyone else.
In other news, the judge also ruled that "SCO" was too much like "Scum," and ordered them to clean up their act.
Next MS will sue Johnson over "Windex" and General Mills over "Cheerios" for sounding too much like "Windows"
another year of SCO as they try taking that through the courts...
No, because Linux and Unix do NOT, in fact, sound similar...
/li'nuks/
/yoo'niks/
Linux
Unix
(Pronounciations stolen graciously from http://www.dictionary.com
What ever became of
"We are The Nation
That Lives by Litigation"
Why did this case and ruling not happen in the good old US of A?
(not that I like the result, I'm just confused why they beat US to it)
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Trademarks are generally restricted to a specific field, so Microsoft will only be a good trademark claim for Windows with anything to do with computers and computer programs.
Mike Rowe was unfortunate in that Microsoft make a web design package (Windows FrontPage) and therefore his web design service infringed on Microsofts trademark.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
In other news,
Makers of NoDoze are filing suit agains microsoft for defamation of name.
Said a NoDoze spoksman:
"Our product is designed to keep you running, which is contrary to the general operation of Windoze."
Microsoft refused to comment.
Gahd, I know I'm going to get modded down for this one, bud did anyone else notice the irony of this articles's headline?
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
The success of Linux has been based by an internet-sauvy grass roots movement that created a whole community of like minded people. I think its the concept more then the name that can be credited.
As far as profits, the commerical releases of SuSE, RedHat, Mandrake, etc all have names that aren't easily confused with UNIX (where Lindows does mimic a commerical rival and desktop market monolopy owner).
If I went out and started a car company and called it Dord, I would expect to see some legal action headed my way. There's no arguing that they aren't trying to get people to associate their product with Windows, even though its not.
slashdot, news for crazed liberal socialist zealots
``Could you argue that Linux profits from the success for Unix because it sounds similar?''
Yes.
However, the situation is such that this is not very likely to happen. UNIX is a trademark worn by several operating systems; more a description of a type of operating system than the name of a specific product. Linux is a UNIX-like operating system, and could even become UNIX certified at some point.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Seems to me that Lindows chose that name specifically to leech off of Microsoft's mindshare. Let's face it, can you give me another reason that would explain that choice in names?
Add to this that the distribution acts a little too dangerously like Windows (complete with the default-administrator-user access), and I can't really say that Microsoft isn't justified in it's attacks on this company.
I work in software retail, and one thing I notice is the number of people who are under the mistaken impression that Lindows is Windows. Add to that the number of people who think it's binary compatibility is perfect (it'll run all their old windows apps). I've yet to see Wine reach that level of accuracy.
I will generally ward people away from this distribution, and point to the green or blue SuSE boxes on the shelf nearby; that's just as easy, and much more secure. (I used to point to the Redhat boxes, but since the personal version has been discontinued, it's more cost-effective for customers to buy SuSE)
The Penguin Producer
I hear there are cafes there where you do just that.
Y2K Compliant since the late 1890s
Duh, it's Linux that acts like Windows, Lindows, what's wrong with that? No one is going to get confused are they? Lindows does not claim to be from Microsoft. They have claimed some interoperability and ease of use for a Windows user.
The name is just fine and the trend of monopolizing varients of names is a distrubing new piece of anti-comptitive stupidity. Take it to it's logical conclusion. Is there any name that anyone can use to imply something simply works like or with Windoze? Does IBM still own the names "PC", "personal computer" and "personal system"? No one can do anything if you get too stupid and complient.
Microsoft is proving that many governments are for sale.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Why is everybody so upset by this? The fact that Microsoft is evil, does not mean they are wrong going after Lindows. ... makes sense considering that a lot of software is not available for Linux. But the look and the name just don't make sense. If the GUI is the user's problem, he/she should not be using Linix anyways. Jesus, if you are too stupid to figure out which one is the "close window" button in KDE because you are so used to Windows ... you are too dumb, don't reproduce, pick up smoking and drinking and use MS Windows for the rest of your natural life.
Lindows tries to emulate MS Windows' look, functionality and even the name. What's worse is that it is not doing any of those things very well either.
I don't see why Lindows is even out there. What purpose does it serve? Are they trying to confuse people to switch to Linux? I can see how something like that could happen to some Joe-Sixpack who goes to a store sees Lindows OS v.XX on the shelves and thinks it the new version of XP. Also, I can see why someone would want to emulate Windows API to run applications
I was never really a fan of lindows mainly due to the fact that when it was originally starting to surface, Michael said that it would support the whole microsoft office suite as well as run ANY microsoft program
It seems like he used those comments just to generate publicity. Once again it seems like he has generated publicity.
Oh well...hand me my Debian cd.
Those who trade in their freedom for security, deserve neither.
It seems to me that Open Office is trading on the success of Microsoft Office.
This could get interesting.
I could be wrong, and perhaps like the Lindows marketing people I'm too lazy to do some research, but didn't Lindows win its case in the U.S? I seem to remember reading that here on Slashdot, but I could be wrong. If I find the article I'll repost.
I'd say that Lindows has perfect authority to use that name. How can a company use a common word like Windows and then expect other companies not to play off that common word, in more creative ways. If Microsoft had called their operating system Microsoft Cantim, and the Lindows people were called Bantim, then I can understand. Both are original words and one is clearly designed to copy another original work for profit. Just don't use a common word and expect exclusivity.
Someone tell Apple that there is popular support for the GUI dumbness. Everyone knows that Microsoft has just been riding Apple's GUI coat-tails for years. It's time to launch another lawsuit, this time in Scandinavia where wakdy and respectable looking Intelectual Property judgements can be bought on the cheap.
Have you ever thought that the name Lindows is a legitimate expression for a Linux distribution that looks and works like wINDOWS? What would you call such a distro? M$ Shadow Linux, Free Windows Linux, Bill Gates Nightmare Linux, Cheap WIMP?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I guess google will be instegating action in the benelux courtrooms against booble..
serenity now!
Dutch Judge Sj. Rullmann buys a small Carribean Island and retires.
1. Hear Microsoft lawsuit
2. ??
3. Profit!
4. Retire
anyone know whether that "18 million" no. is accurate?...if so it would be interesting to know how it breaks down
``arguing that the term "Windows" is generic for a GUI-based operating system''
I think this makes a lot of sense. Windows is a regular English word, and therefore there is a good argument against it being trademarkable. If it were an acronym, there would be a point, but as it stands, I think the trademark should be invalidated, at least in English-speaking countries.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
here it is
next?
[bzzzzzz]
Microsoft today pushed congress to ban the l key from being sold on PC keyboards. A spokesperson said "You don't need to type that key to visit good and whoesome websites. On the other hand, that key is essentia to terrorists trying to visit communist and subversive sites. True patriots wi have nothing at a to worry about."
Mental image of somebody punching Linux. "Oooh! Right in the Netherlands!"
qntm.org
I suggest: Macrosoft Lindows
serenity now!
I'm sorry, but Lindows is just another distro. It may be a good desktop distro for the unknowing (I haven't given it a try), but there are lots of other (more popular) distro's out there. We can still use all of the other Linux desktop offerings out there.
If Lindows need to rename their product, they'll need a name that conjures up an image of something you open, and through which you gain access to where you want to go today. How about calling it Gates?
I tried the recently-released "Developer Edition" that they were giving away a short while back, and I actually was rather impressed. Lindows has to have the most out-of-the-box polish I've ever seen in a commercial distribution. No, it's not very friendly to those of us who know their way around a computer already, but that's not the market they are targeting. It's not exactly going to replace Gentoo on my system, but I could definately see myself recommending Lindows to others.
/sbin/jiffyboot). Other than that though, I liked what I saw. Click-and-run might be the best system update tool I've seen outside of portage, and it has even Gentoo beat in the newbie-friendliness department.
The only real problem that I had with it was getting it to not mess up my boot settings. Though it can dual-boot with Windows easily enough, it does NOT play nice with other versions of Linux, and it took me a while to get it to not reset the MBR with it's own settings every time it booted. (Solution: delete/rename/remove executable permissions for
I game, therefore I am...
Mikerowesoft Lindows?
They could just rename it zzz-XWindows or something. Not just XWindows, but something that includes it. The name would probably be even more upsetting to Microsoft, but at least X clearly predates MS Windows.
When you have to start suing over stuff like this is goes to show how little faith they have in their product. I mean, come on, windows is far superior to anything ever created. It is the eighth wonder of the world. Remember that study that proves microsoft is better than linux. Really though, suing over this and that is really starting to make them look pretty bad. My dad has always been a windows kind of guy but recently he's been telling me he'll have me build him a linux box soon cause he's tired of watching the way Microsoft (and mSCO) is handling the reality that they may have to compete. They're not trying to compete. They're trying to litigate. I could be wrong though, I am biased (very biased). I think this is the final straw for me though. No more windows help for anybody, not even my mom. She can switch or deal with the shit she puts herself in.
>I'm sorry, but Lindows is just another distro
Fair enough, but Lindows has been unfairly criticised by many people. They're sponsoring a number of open source projects/sites, especially KDE related ones such as kde-look and kde-apps. They also recently provided free (or very cheap) copies of their developer edition to KDE developers and readers of a number of OS sites. If you're a GNOMEr, you still feel the benefit of the competition (and cooperation!) between the two projects.
They are at least challenging some of the MS's more dubious practices - of course they're unlikely to win, but they generate publicity. Having also just witnessed the farcical spectacle of the Hutton Report here in the UK, I'm beginning to wonder if there are any legal entities in the world that aren't subservient to the wishes of governments and large corporations
win some lose some i knoe in the us they ruled they could use the name lindows. but i guess M$ wasent happy losing there case so they sued in every other country. also blocking lindows.com would bascily render people who bought the os useless couse of the click and run. wile im no fan of lindows i think its a sorry excuse of a linux distro and thers no free download witch made the linux commounty drop them like a bad habbit try asking for support for lindows in a linux channel you will eyther get kicked or told to install a real distro. what makes it funny is M$ only has them for there simler name whats stopping mandrake or some other disto from taking over where lindows lost.
Next in line, Pella Windows http://www.pella.com/ for having Windows in their company name.
Or would MIT and apple complain?
How did Microsoft Windows get a trademark on Windows, is it that different to X Windows?
Be Free: Free Software Tuition
So Lindows should just become:
Lwodniws
-------- This space intentionally left blank --------
Windows
If i made a company that sold pop and called it Soca-Cola Company, and made the cans red, I think I would get sued by Coke and no one would think that Coca-Cola was wrong, and similarly if I was using Soca-Cola.com to push and sell my wares I would expect it to get shut down, since the judge can't shut it down he asked for the next best thing. Yes there are work arounds, and if you want to work around the law I am sure you can get away with murder too. The fact is Lindows wanted to sound like Windows as either joke or whatever, and quite honestly lindows works like windows and feels like windows. This is a good lawsuit and I wish you could open your eyes for ten seconds and see past the haze of Microsoft hate to see that this is legitimate.
Anonymous Cowards - Oh God, How I hate you
In a country with so few and lose laws Microsoft still manages to pull off a win. I wonder if the Netherlands received any money from Microsoft hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Guess I should start my new company tomorrow based on your logic. Microsoft should fund my hardware company and we'll call it Bapple computers, and they'll be orange and blue and silver, and have exactly the same appearance as another similarly named company, and I'll show them in adds with VW bugs, and appeal to hippies and liberals. AND then I'll bitch when apple sues my ass. Damn linux fanboys, grow up.
Anonymous Cowards - Oh God, How I hate you
Saboteur comes from the french, not the dutch.
Use "Lacintosh" instead.
How much again is M$FT paying to take over the EU OS market? Or did you naively think government penalties were somehow to benefit the consumer... reminds me of the SEC and my losses in a Merrill-Lynch mutual fund. Not waiting for the SEC to mail me my check for the money they are taking in in penalties!
I would think y'all would realize the anticompetitive fees M$FT will pay in the EU are NOT penalties but actually fees... they are paying for the right to do business anti-competitively - something the US government has allowed here for years. So, expect to see lots of upcoming laws and ruling making M$FT the only valid product choice in Europe.
Expect Freedom.
I can understand 'windows' to be trademarked in non-english speaking countries, as it is not a word in the first place.
MikeRowSoft Lindohs?
-- Jim
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
will be:
GNU/Lindows
problems solved.
Defenestrate your office with DefenestrOS!
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?Dict=&d efine=defenestrate&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=Se arch
Man, nothing hurts like a hit in the Netherlands.
BFL
There's one thing computing teaches you, and that's that there's no point to remembering everything.
--Doug Copland
SO.... Has Windex thought of suing MS.. the re is a connection with windows there... Windex is an older, more established product... I wonder what OS their legal Dept uses??
Acc'd to my pal previously of the PTO, a trademark cannot directly indicate a process in the manufacture of the item the trademark references, nor can it refer directly to what the referenced item does as a matter of course. His example was someone tring to trademark "Ice Vodka". They turned that down because the vodka was made with a cold process. So how can a windowing operating system receive the trademark Windows?
WHAT!!!!??? Are your claiming that being compatible with other formats is unfairly allowing it to profit off of Microsoft? Compatibility is allowed and is often done in many products.If thats not your claim, then it must be that it is an office suite. Microsoft was by far not the first company to have an office suite and won't be the last one. if neither of those things were what you were implying, then please clarify. Open Office is successful because it is free, compatible, and full of features (I love that reg expr parser in the find utility) that don't exist in other suites (excluding SUN's). Even KOffice supports the OpenOffice format now because it's so popular.
Regards,
Steve
Great idea! And it'd probably sell well in Poland and Wales... or something...
They are requiring lindows to ban access from citizens of their country?
Aside form how stupid that sounds, how are they going to enforce that? Or do they now have jurisdiction in the US?
If they want to ban it, how about doing it themselves..
While they may be at fault for playing on the name of windows, This whole scene is just stupid.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
when you misspelled "benelux".
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
In 1996-1997 a book by Naba Barkakati "Linux Secrets" stated on the cover "Linux is a registered trademark of William R. Della Croce, Jr.". Thanks to good lawyers and support from numerous institutions and people Linus Torvalds has got the trademark back finally (see LinuxJournal 31). After that there have been cases against many Free Software projects. To name a few:
Which other cases do you remember? Please let me know, because I will write a documentation.
Who will be next?
To that conclusion right Mr. is. Sj. Rullmann come in Amsterdam Thursday.
Microsoft conducted Lindows during the sitting of the court to that
the mark names.com and LindowsOS make violation on the merkrecht and too confusing is
with its own product Windows.
Lindows profit unlawfully of the success of Windows because Lindows.com explicitly put its product in the market as a product which of
both markets (both Windows -, as Linux-software) at home are, thus the judge.
Thereby Lindows put.com also still finished against Windows by the denomination of the
product draw themselves Lindows.com unjustified advantage from the distinctive capacity and the
reputation of the mark Windows.Distributors Lindows.com are dedicated within eight days the violation on the mark Windows
strike. The software company of Michael Robertson can no longer advertise in
the Netherlands.
Moreover also the four distributors in the Netherlands must stop with
sale and advertisements of Lindows-producten. Also Lindows must.com within eight days ensure that Internet-delicate from the benelux
no more access has to the Internet site www.lindows.com, thus the judge judged.
Name agrees this pronouncement to earlier provisional supplies of
judges in Finland and Sweden. In December there also the use of the names LindowsOS and Lindows
became.com prohibited.
Lindows.com its name in the benelux are able change. Or that will happen, is according to Erik Vollebregt Clifford Chance, the lawyer's office of Lindows.com, still but the question because the sales in the benelux are not this
way high.
We have zojuist sent the sentence to America. Therefore there or Lindows must be also still stipulated.com significant find it and money concerning has to against the
pronouncement in appeal go, thus Vollebregt.
[Sung to Santa Claus is Coming to Town]
You better watch out,
You better not try
To call it X Windows
I'm telling you why
It's called the X Window System
I'm making a list
I'm checking it again
I'm gonna find out
Who's commiting this sin
It's called the X Window System
Some call it X11
Some call it X, that's fine
Just don't call it X Windows
Or people will bitch and whine
So you better watch out,
You better not try
To call it X Windows
I'm telling you why
It's called the X Window System.
Thank you.
Is there an accepted method for making a web site inaccessable in a country?
If only Microsoft spent as many resources on fixing security holes as it does on lawsuits ....
Dutch Citizens Denied the Choice of Desktop Linux
Microsoft Blocks Lindows.com Products in the Netherlands
SAN DIEGO and AMSTERDAM January 30, 2004 -- A judge in the Netherlands today granted Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) a preliminary injunction against desktop Linux vendor Lindows.com Inc., a decision Lindows.com plans to appeal. The ruling will deny the Netherlands the cost-savings that desktop Linux currently offers to approximately 18 million people worldwide, leaving vulnerable and expensive Microsoft software as the only option for computer consumers in the Netherlands.
"It's clear that Microsoft is using their army of hundreds of attorneys and billions of dollars as a battering ram to destroy any company that promotes desktop Linux," said Michael Robertson, chief executive officer of Lindows.com Inc. "They were unsuccessful in the U.S. with this tactic, so now they're resorting to picking countries where they will find a sympathetic court. Today, U.S. customers can purchase computers pre-installed with desktop Linux and are saving millions of dollars when compared with expensive, virus-prone software from Microsoft. This ruling may delay the day when Dutch customers receive those same savings, but I can assure you that we will continue to battle to bring the benefit of choice to the Netherlands. "
Lindows.com will abide by the terms of the ruling, but will appeal the decision that deprives Dutch consumers of the cost-savings that desktop Linux users worldwide have experienced. Lindows.com products have enabled $199 PCs and $699 laptops to be widely available in the United States, where courts twice denied Microsoft's requests for a preliminary injunction against Lindows.com (www.lindows.com/msftdenied). The exclusivity of Microsoft products in the Dutch computer market results in consumers paying inflated prices for vulnerable software.
Despite the March 1, 2004 trial scheduled in the United States, Microsoft has been opening multiple fronts in Europe in an attempt to drain the resources of competitors. The software giant has threatened resellers and brought legal action against Lindows.com in several countries of the European Union, including France, Sweden, and Finland. The moves prompted the launch of ChoicePC, a rallying point for supporters of choice in European countries that was met with overwhelming support (www.lindows.com/choicesuccess).
Details of the continuing litigation between Microsoft and Lindows.com are available at www.lindows.com/opposition. Those interested in attending the March 1, 2004 trial in Seattle, Washington, or in receiving legal updates, should register at www.lindows.com/attend.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Lindows are cheap profiteers who contribute nothing to the community and do nothing except find ways to bilk Linux for money. Their distro is crap and is very insecure. Die, Lindows, die...
Tell me, before the advent of Microsoft Windows, did you see any windowing operating system that actually called the frames "windows?"
...ever wanted was an XBOX! (and free MS training)
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
A title like "Lindows Takes a Hit in the Netherlands", and not a single highly moderated comment on drug paraphernalia?
Maybe you should try reading the other posts here before blindly jumping to a conclusion as to what the most popular opinion is on Slashdot. It would appear that the majority agree with you.
It seems to me that if Microsoft spent even half as much time and effort on improving their products as they did on legal issues, they would have an actually decent product. First all the crap with the monopoly, and now they're chasing Lindows... meanwhile, there's new windows problems all the time, and they just sit there and tell you to upgrade with another lame product. The whole thing was probably better when it was just a handful of guys working in the garage. It should've stayed that way.
Woah, I read that too fast.
When I first read the title - I thought they were getting baked in some coffee shop... ... dude pass it here... Thanks... *lighter clicking sound...* *water bubbling* *exhalation* *laughter* Yeah man... L I N D O W S ... Just like WINDOWS, but it's Linux dude... totally rocks too, no taxes to that fucked up little asshole - ummm, you know him, Gates... hahahahahaha... what a name... Gates... I bet lots of people went thru that fag in high school man... Here dude, take a hit off this shit, it rocks... What were we talking about again? hahahahaha
I was hit in the netherlands, once. It HURT.
I couldn't take a piss for a week.
blad (best laugh all day)
The name "Lindows" is obviously an attempt to cash in on MS Windows. Otherwise they would have changed the name a long time ago.
I thought everybody knew by now that Apple didn't invent the GUI. They were just the first to knock it off.
I thought that read:
Lindows takes a hit in the nether region.
Because Microsoft coined the term "Windows" to describe the little drag-and-droppy boxes on the screen, hence the name. Your logic doesn't make much sense... It's like them not being able to call the last Arnie film Terminator 3 because it has a terminator in it...
Doug Englebart's NLS (1960s)? Xerox Star (1981)? Visicorp VisiOn (1982)? Apple Lisa (1983)? Apple Macintosh (1984)?
Given the way Lindows looks and feels, I can see merit if Microsoft launched a look and feel lawsuit against it (history has not been kind on those). But trademarking a common industry term and suing when other companies in the industry use it is just silly ("windows" in a GUI was around long before Microsoft Windows). The US courts so far have understood this, so I'm puzzled why the European courts have been having problems getting it.
Lindows is using the EXACT same tactic that Microsoft used to help boost their dominance in the market. In fact, the following scenario was brought up during the U.S. trials and was one of the main reasons why Lindows can sell here.
Set your Wayback machine for 1984. While not necessarily revolutionary in the business side of computing, Apple's Mac OS was absolutely incredible for your average consumers. With command lines and keyboards offered from your latest PCs, the Macinosh was quite litterally a "computer for the rest of us."
A customer walks into the store and asks the clerk: "Hey! I want that new computer... you know, the one that has all the windows on it."
Clerk: "Oh, you mean Windows."
Customer: "Is that the one?"
Clerk: "It's the only one called Windows."
Customer: "Oh, ok. Give me that."
This is nothing like the examples you give. This would be like if Slackware trademarked the term "Slackware Distribution" and then sued when Microsoft decided to name its distribution "Mistrobution" or "Wistro." The play on words is on a common generic term used in the industry. It's Microsoft's own fault for picking a name based on a generic industry term. If they want to sue Lindows because it looks and feels like Windows, then they file a look and feel lawsuit.
They are clearly out to get people to switch from Windows to LindowsOS by imitating MicroSoft's product. They are clearly out to get people to switch from Windows to LindowsOS by imitating MicroSoft's product.
Then file a look and feel lawsuit. The fact that Microsoft hasn't seems to indicate the similarity between the two products is not an issue. So all you're left with is whether or not a common generic industry term is trademarkable.
They are profiting from the success of windows, and that because windows Sucks! And is expensive! And locks the user in an MS-environment!
So everyone wants to switch.
Wouldn't have been nice if MS lost, and had to rename Windows to tardOS?
[Now, I'm off to lift my le... Um, visit... at another place.]
The way to fight this is if everyone points
out when xwindows came out. It's clear that
microsoft copied the name from that.
hasn't windows been copied from xerox' X-Window?
anyway windows is called this way because it adds (graphical) windows to dos (nowaday also).
imho the judge isn't wrong, but i think it's not something a judge is needed for.
greetings,
ppp
Uhm what did Lindows do? Copy the look and feel of windows (while retaining their own logo) with a totally different underlying technology. Same that Windows did when they ripped off the Mac, which ripped off the Xerox alto (with permission).
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
Can someone explain or clarify this for me exactly why?
Given this scenario...Suppose my name is Lenny and I open up a diner...Does the fact that I want to call it Lenny's Diner mean that Denny's will sue me now?
We're in the same field selling the same products..(Food..drink, etc.) The similarities in what we sell would be hard to miss...
So in other words, if I'm a software programmer making a new graphical interface with "windows" then I'm not allowed to use that in a name?
As an additional note, a lot of people are saying that the name Lindows is only different from Microsoft Windows by one letter. Technically, it's different from Microsoft Windows by 10 letters...namely it's called Lindows, not Microsoft Lindows (which is really the difference of a single letter....)
To you, maybe it doesn't sound similar. In Finland, it does. Unix/Linux sounds almost exactly the same, just with the straight sound "i" and the straight sounding "u" swapped. (Yeah, that's right, we don't pronounce "u" /yoo/, nor i /eye/.)
yes
The judge is making the decision based on the fact that the Lindows brand is capitalizing on another well known brand: Windows.
The problem with this reasoning is that:
1) A trademark may not extend to a description of usefulness or purpose.
For example, one cannot trademark "push button gear shift" because it describes functionality.
2) It should also be pointed out that NOWHERE in trademark law is a name that is similar disallowed UNLESS there is a possibility of confusion. In fact, there is a LONG established history of names that are similar.
3) "Lindows" was not named in attempt to deceive consumers with a sound-alike name. Nor is it branded with a similar visual brand mark. The name is based on a description of functionality.
This is a very scary precedent. Especially when you consider that Microsoft has claimed ownership of a "functional" description. A "Window" is an area of screen real estate dedicated to any particular application or use. Microsoft was able to get a trademark on a functional term, (which they did not invent) and is now protecting others from even sounding similar to that term.
Lets be perfectly clear.
This lawsuit was *never* about trademarks. It is about stifling competition.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
The issue is not whether the word is a regular English word, it is the extent to which it is quite difficult to sell your product without reference to the word. For example, Apple for pie is generic, but Apple for computers is not only non-generic, but powerfully strong.
What is more, it is not sufficient that a mark be descriptive, even powerfully descriptive, to render it generic -- the word has to be (or become) the name for the genus -- or category of product. In other words, "International Business Machines" is descriptive, for a typerwriter, but not generic. Typewriter, on the other hand is generic.
A finding of descriptiveness will not aid the defendant against microsoft's incontestable Windows mark -- it can only be invalidated by proof of genericity.
horseshit!
But Officer, I DID read the f**king article!
Evolution doesn't sound anything like Outlook. They can't be sued for trademark infringement. If MicroSoft has patented parts of the look or functionality of Outlook (which I doubt), they could sue Ximian, at least in the US.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Hi spitzak!
I would have read the other posts, just that there weren't any (ok, there were a few FP trolls, but that doesn't help much...)
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
THIS IS PURE FLAMEBAIT
On
The parent "Windows shouldn't be allowed as a trademark anyway" should be modded up as Informative.
Even Microsoft referred to "windowed operating systems" in the past. Windows was and is a generic term for a style of operating system that others did first, and others did better.
There were suspicious circumstances surrounding MS gaining a trademark on the word "Windows". Borland was paid off and the judge in the case reversed his decision to deny the trademark WITHOUT COMMENT! That's unheard of!
The name "Windows" is a direct contravention of international copyright law as it is a generic term. This fact was pointed out to Microsoft in a judgement handed down in the USA over Microsoft v.s. Lindows OS. I believe that Microsoft hold copyright for the names "Microsoft Windows xxxx" where xxxx is the version eg: NT or 95 / 98 / Me / 2000 / Xp etc...
Further I believe that the "stir" factor did come in to play in the naming of Lindows, but it is not a term easily recognised as directly being a Windowed Operating System.
M$ are the ones who should really have a case to answer. The produce operating systems with more security vulnerabilities than any other software company on earth and nobody seems to care... But let somebody try to produce something even half reasonable and they'll try to sue them for something.
I wonder when or if we'll see the day when quality, stability and reliability are the qualities by which the law makers see things instead of who has the most money?