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.'"

Comments

i wanna know

[Naikrovek]

what http://vistawindows.com/ is gonna do.

From JoelOnSoftware

[noblethrasher]

For those of you who keep up with Joel Spolsky, here's what he had to say about a very similar matter

Well, there are a couple of dozen products named Copilot, many with registered trademarks, so our trademark lawyer advised us to use Fog Creek Copilot which would eliminate any possibility of confusion with those other Copilot brand products. The point of trademark laws is that what you're not allowed to do is create any confusion or potential confusion as to the origin of your product, and sticking "Fog Creek" in front guarantees that, but we have to be religious about always using the full name. I didn't really mind, having started my career working on products like Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications for Microsoft Excel, etc. etc. After a few weeks on the Microsoft Excel team if you ever saw the word "Excel" without a "Microsoft" in front of it, it looked nekkid.

_windows_

[Nikademus]

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.

Re:Preemptive strike...

[surprise_audit]

The way I understand it, you have to defend against any possible trademark infringement, because letting just one infringement pass means you could lose control of it.

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...