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Windows Vista Faces Lawsuits
WindozeSux writes "When tech company Vista discovered the title for the new Windows Operating System version, company founder John Wall was not amused. John Wall may take this to court because he knows of how protective Microsoft is over their trademarks. From the article: 'A Microsoft spokesman said the company chose Vista from a list developed by the Windows team, based on attributes of the new software. Among its primary selling points are new tools for searching and viewing the contents of a PC; communications features; and a lighter desktop appearance with transparent objects.'"
When my company wants to propose a name a new product, one of the steps is to go to the USPTO to see if somebody in the same industry has a registered trademark on it. If so, we drop the proposed name and go on to the next. Seems elementary to me. We also try to get the .com domain if at all possible. Lastly, we do a google search to see if the name candidate is diluted or already in use as a claimed (but not registered) trademark. Sometimes we find that the name has negative connotations. Anyway, why doesn't MS hire people who do these elementary steps for them?
Perhaps they felt that "vista" was too diluted to be a trademark on its own, and/or that using the trademark "Microsoft Vista" is sufficiently distinct from any other use of "vista", but these arguments seem lazy and weak to me.
Other than that, it's a pretty good name.
what http://vistawindows.com/ is gonna do.
with (as I understand) an entirely different product in a non-competing market.
Yes, but I don't think that matters that much because both companies produce software products.
For example, I called my cool new Windows spreadsheet program "SuperLinux", I would not be surprised if Linus Torvolds' attorney served me some papers. Just the fact that the products are both software would be confusing to everyone. (And maybe when the shoe is on the other foot, the slashbots will understand what I'm talking about.)
Just imagine the sales calls:
"Hi this is Fred from Vista Software"
"Un, you mean like Windows Vista??"
"That's only the 10th time I've heard that today."
The thing is that a good brandname is worth zillions of dollars. I'm sure MS was fully aware of these guys and just figured they were small-fries that could easily be bought off. (And , I'm sure that Apple though the same way about TigerDirect, The Open Group, Apple Records, etc.)
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
Wall was one of the early inverstors in the Caldera/SCO scam.
The company also owns some dubious energy company (most likely a tax-writeoff stunt).
MS knew must have known about Vista, and this might poosibly be a somewhat indirect way of funelling money to further finance the SCO litigation machine.
If you put on your tinfoil hat, this name is not an accident, but a way to finance SCO without alerting the antitrust watch dogs.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
How did someone let them register _windows_ then. Afetr all, it's a common word.
Word History: The source of our word window is a vivid metaphor. Window comes to us from the Scandinavian invaders and settlers of England in the early Middle Ages. Although we have no record of the exact word they gave us, it was related to Old Norse vindauga, "window," a compound made up of vindr, "wind," and auga, "eye," reflecting the fact that at one time windows contained no glass. The metaphor "wind eye" is of a type beloved by Norse and Old English poets and is called a kenning; other examples include oar-steed for "ship" and whale-road for "sea." Recently we have restored to the 800-year-old word window a touch of its poetic heritage, using it figuratively in such phrases as launch window, weather window, and window of opportunity or vulnerability.
I gave up with the idea of an useful sig...
While the threat of a lawsuit from MS is certainly enough to keep one up at night (and personally I don't think they'd try to sue Vista since they held their name first)... this is great publicity for vista.com.
No one heard of them, and now millions of people might accidentially come across their website or read about them in regards to this potential lawsuit.
Besides, they don't appear to be a software company -- from the looks of their website, they do website hosting and design, ecommerce.
-David
OK, so if the two parties have wildly different products, there's usually no problem. This is how Apple and Apple Records settled - Apple Records agreed to let Apple use the name, on the condition that Apple wouldn't produce music, and presumably Apple Records wouldn't make computers. I suspect there's some fancy footwork going on to get over any objections over iTunes & iPods...
Now, with Vista being a software house, and Windows Vista supposedly being actual software (eventually), there's a lot of scope for confusion. Vista's products could be tainted by Microsoft's track record on screwing stuff up. If Vista ever wanted to market a product called Windows Vista, that's definitely a problem...
it's also a no-brainer that it's asking for a trademark infringement suit
I wouldn't have said so - Microsoft shouldn't have a trademark on "windows". It's like if Microsoft trademarked the word "server" today, marketed a product called "Microsoft Server", and then, in twenty years time, sued everybody else who uses the word "server" or something that resembles it. Sounds completely bizarre, but it's essentially what Microsoft did with the word "windows".
Also, IIRC, Microsoft didn't/couldn't trademark "windows" in some places, which is why they sued Lindows in more than one country.
Remember wxWindows, excellent library (better than QT IMHO)? It existed for a very long time, but Microsoft recently forced them to rename to wxWidgets.