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How Microsoft Takes a Name
An anonymous reader writes "According to a report in the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer," the Windows Defender name was already being used by an Australian developer, Adam Lyttle. His Windows Defender product protected Windows users from malicious Web sites. Adam Lyttle told the Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop that Microsoft contacted him a month ago, charging him with infringing on the Windows trademark but neglecting to mention that the software giant wanted to use the "Windows Defender" name. Lyttle subsequently signed over rights to the name to Microsoft and was "shocked" when he later learned the company intended to use the name for one of its own products. "
...so "yoink" is not the correct answer?
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
He signed away his rights to the name. What did he expect?
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
3 MS stories in a row... I need my google/apple fix!!
Windows Commander is now called TotalCommander. Guess why.
"Two things inspire me to awe -- the starry heavens above and the moral universe within." - Albert Einstein
Why can't Microsoft just change the name?
Since it is a security product from Microsoft, how about a name like:
Microsoft Maginot Defender
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Well, what rubs me the wrong way is that "Windows" is trademarked. Does Coke have the trademark on "One" or on "Coke One"? (I honestly don't know). I don't know about you, but when I think Windows, I think of those big glass things in the wall.
What if he had made that blast retardant stuff for glass windows. The stuff that keeps the windows from shattering in an explosion. Would that still have left him needing to give up the name? Now, if he had called it Microsoft Windows Defender that'd be another story.
In the end, its probably still not worth the legal fees.
This is Microsoft shooting its self in the foot again as it just highlights how much their operating systems are missing
Karmady is the best medicine.
Sure, but Microsoft does not have a trademark on the word Windows, not in this nor any other domain. They got Microsoft Windows trademarked. Windows is, and has been for a long time, a generic word in the computer field.
- These characters were randomly selected.
You don't sign a contract until a lawyer has looked at it. Of course MS will give themselves the upper hand.. Silly Wabbit.
"He expected that Microsoft was acting in good faith..."
ROFL
How pathetic are you that you follow me from topic to topic and waste all your mod points at once modding me down?
this definitely is a stunning question ... what is trademarked and where do the limits go.
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:p)
if i invent a glass that can display computer graphics with a simple microchip besides it, make it work as a touchpad tablet pc and install it as a window on houses. can i call my product Windows ? cause they ARE windows, the real windows (not the crappy software of a company that's name suggestes that something is small and soft), but with a little extra.
nevermind the finger marks on the glass, mommy will wash these away
and what happened to Mike Rowe ? the dude that owned mikerowesoft website ? that doesnt even apply to trademark rules because it his his freaking name (poor dude) and he can't use it ?
next thing you'll see is an indian claiming trademark on the Apache and his friend ripping off the army with Comanche
WindowsCommander->TotalCommander, WindowsDefender -> TotalDefender ? (should be on the way
I'd tell you the chances of this story being a dupe, but you wouldn't like it.
Heck, if he had been paying attention he would have realized that "Windows" isn't a registered Trademark, but that "Microsoft Windows" is instead. The trademark-ability of "Windows" featured prominently in Microsoft's case against Lindows. Microsoft *paid* Linspire over $20 million to stop using the "Lindows" trademark.
that gets exploited by Win32.Rommel
+1 fashionably cynical
1) Microsoft has a trademark on "Microsoft Windows" and this mark is used in connection with computer software.
As you said, "Microsoft Windows".
2) A computer software developer using the name "Windows Defender" voluntarily handed over the name to Microsoft.
It wasn't "voluntarily", he was threatened. Makes a huge difference.
"Windows Defender" could be argued to generate confusion in the market because when it comes to the word "Windows" with respect to computer software, most of the market (ie. John Q Citizen) is going to assume that it is a Microsoft product. This is the purpose of a trademark.
IMHO it couldn't generate confusion but in any case this is irrelevent. When we say that microsoft has a trademark on "Microsoft Windows" and not merely "Windows" we mean exactly that "Windows" by itself can be freely used. If we allow an argument of the style "X Windows", for all X, cannot be used because it generates confusion then what difference does it make from having a trademerk on "Windows"? Windows is a goddamn common word.
Microsoft just didn't respect the man's right to use the name and lied to him to *make him* give the rights. Ethically (and, I guess, legally in any countries) this is fraud!