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Microsoft and Lindows Settle Trademark Case
An anonymous reader writes "According to an official press release hosted over at Yahoo, Microsoft and Lindows have settled their trademark case, and have announced: 'Over the next few months Lindows will cease using the term Lindows and transition to Linspire globally as our company name and primary identifier for our operating system product.' Although it's claimed: 'Terms of the settlement are confidential', ZDNet has an article filling in more details, including the fact: 'Microsoft will pay upstart Linux seller Lindows $20 million... [so that Lindows] will give up the Lindows name and assign related Web domains to Microsoft.'" We've previously covered the Microsoft and Lindows conflict in some detail.
That said, I'm glad to see the end of this as an issue... until Sunbean sues Linspire over their trademark
Sigs cause cancer.
Seriously, the linspire people are not the kinds of companies I, personally, would like to see carrying the Linux/OSS banner forward any more than I'd want to see claria be our standardbearer.
Hopefully after being forced to change their name will cause computer companies to consider bundling other "distributions" (if you deign call "lindows" a "distribution") such as mandrake or fedora wich are much more free (as in speech and as in beer), and who have not based their business model on a combination of selling free applications and having a name that sounds like 'windows'.
$20MM for a similar name sounds pretty wild. What's to stop Aindows, Bindows, etc from trying the same thing?
Apparently Michael Robertson is just a money-grubbing whore. He stated so vehemently that Lindows wasn't like Windows - until he could talk them into a cash payment. This is appalling for Linux.
Lindows Steals Copyrighted Art and Promotes Porn
It seems that redirecting web domain will cause consumer confusion. Joe consumer who doesn't know any better will go to the Lindows site only to find Microsoft and then assume they are the same thing.
Hey!
That agreement mentions removal of Windows media codecs from Linspire.
Looks like it was about more than just the name!
Or is this just microsoft demanding removal of EVERYTHING microsoft.
I feel somewhat dirty reading a confidential agreement, but then again its microsoft so it balances out.
liqbase
I don't blame Robertson. Since they're going public soon, this money will be in the general coffers of the company and used to compete against Microsoft. I think this is a smart move. In the long run, Linux will be better off with the $20M being used to advance Linux than just proving the term Windows was generic.
Zeo
Read the S-1 people before posting inane comments. I know you might lose a couple slots in the who can post first contest, but at least you won't look like an idiot.
Here are facts which are at SEC.gov
Domain name Lindows will be redirected to Linspire for 4 years.
Lindows gets 20MM (Lindows has only spent 13MM since inception)
Lindows gets 4 year windows media license
Where are all the people that thought Robertson was dumb for selecting lindows.com now???? Linux needs a few more Robertsons.
I know, I know, Lindows is the anti-christ. But they got their competitor to fund their business! Anyone notice that?
The lack of business acumen of Slashdotters continues to astound....
When Lindows started using Linspire in the US. It made no sense other than to prepare for an eventual settlement. I do wish Robertson would have held out for more money. 20 million is NOTHING to Microsoft.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
It makes me wonder why Microsoft is more afraid of the name "Lindows" than of giving a small upstart competitor $20,000,000
I'm more interested in one of the settlement terms where Lindows..er..Linspire will remove certain components and M$ will provide alternatives. This means that MS will have to port some software to Linux. Ouch!
I thought the Windows Trademark (or better: its continued existance) was worth far more than a measily 2E7 USD.
|_lindows could have easily gambled much longer and higher.
Rainer
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
I am starting a new company to challenge the Windows Trademark. The company name will be "Vindows". I fully expect that there will be a legal challenge by that big nasty company with all the money. I expect a need to raise about two million to be financially viable before introducing the new company and its products. I promise that I will not store my software in a warehouse somewhere, but will provide direct links to the manufacturer's websites where you will be allowed to obtain software at no cost to you once you become a partner in my company.
I am currently soliciting investment funds from entrepeneurs in the amounts of $50.00 or more each toward this goal. Private share certificates will be issued for each investment of $50.00, and for the first $1000 (oops) I meant 1000 people who have limited funds and can only donate (oops again) invest $25 dollars, I will divide the investment shares accordingly.
If the venture company really takes off, we will all become rather rich. However, the best we can hope for is for that big nasty company to come try to put us out of business by claiming they have rights to our name. The way I see it, with two million dollars to pay attorney fees, we will still have $18 million to share after we change our name and settle out of court. For those who have invested in the initial two million dollars, your return will be a whopping 400 percent, allowing you to recoup your investment plus 300 percent in less than 3 years.
That leaves me as CEO and owner, having made the company what it is, with just enough to limp along and start over with --- well, I was thinking of something like "Rindows".
Please forward your donations to me at my websites, vindows.com and three years from now, rindows.com. Please don't get the names mixed up since others may try to scam you out of money by registering similar websites like "dindows" of "findows" or even "zindows".
Thanks ahead for your donation (oops still again). I meant investment.
CEO and Owner, Vindows
And what did Mike Rowe (remember MikeRoweSoft?) get? A handful of books and an XBox. He should have held out...
Am I the only one who is reminded of Larry Ellison whenever I read about Michael Robertson? (The former is the CEO of Oracle and the latter is the founder and CEO of Lindows / Linspire.)
Both run tech companies. Both have personalities (based on reports and news stories) that could be categorized as "dickhead."
And both appear to be redeemable for the sole reason that they seem to really enjoy pissing in Bill Gates' Cheerios.
- Neil Wehneman
P.S. Since this topic is on trademarks, it should be noted that Cheerios is a registered trademark of General Mills, and my reference to it is in the non-trademark use of the mark. (Reference)
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
So, because Lindows has taken Linux and gone after the lowest common denominator, the "average" user, the Uber Script Kiddies and Uber Wanna Be Geeks diss it as not really Linux, after all "grandma" can use it. This is why Red Hat fell out of favor, after all they did for Linux, it got way to easy to use, just not geeky enough, after all, with a graphical installer no less.
Well, Linux is now "here", and the companies that have the resources to do it will now put Linux in everyone's hands, not just the "illuminati" and such. Uber Losers, you will now have to go find another "secret" to imagine only you know the truth about. How about BeOS?
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
This settlement just proves, once again, that Michael Robertson doesn't walk his talk. The same thing happened with MP3.COM. He folded without ever concluding a court battle.
It would have been one thing had he didn't pretend to be some pro-little-guy visionary. If he was up front about being a mere speculator of up-and-coming technologies (MP3, Linux, what's next?), then I could tolerate his actions. I still wouldn't like him, but at least everyone would know what they are dealing with.
What a chump.
Method of processing duck feet
A quote from the article is "SFU is not shipped with Windows because SFU currently contains open-source software, such as the GNU C compiler, which cannot be distributed with commercial software. Zions confirmed that Microsoft is working to replace all open-source code in SFU with commercially licensed alternatives."
My money is that about the time Longhorn is released (+/- five years) we'll see another offering, Lindows, which is Microsoft's *nix clone, which also happens to have binary compatability with large swaths, but not complete coverage, of Linix internals. Just enough that the average consumer and most Judges will say "See, they're still competing and not illegally using their Monopoly to do it."
frob
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement