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Microsoft Sued Over Bing Trademark
mentus writes "Bing! Information Design, a design company from Missouri, is suing Microsoft over 'intentional interference' with their trademark and claiming Microsoft had knowledge of the trademark when it relaunched its rebranded search engine. Microsoft legal representative Kevin Kutz states that he believes the case will be dismissed and that Microsoft 'always respect[s] trademarks and other people's intellectual property, and look[s] forward to the next steps in the judicial process.'"
Uh, did this lawyer just fall off the turnip truck or what? Hate to tell you this Skippy Suit, but this ain't the first time Big Daddy Desktop has been in a courtroom for shit like this.
Microsoft definition of being "respectful" is cutting a check large enough to be bought out or go away.
"Prior art" is not a trademark-related term.
I wonder why people always start claiming their rights so late.
Because obtaining trademarks is costly and time-consuming, and because an unregistered trademarks is still a protected mark. This is a fairly small company who, until recently, probably found that an unregistered trademark was sufficient for them. Now that Microsoft has started using the name, they've decided they need to protect themselves further.
Aren't you obliged to protect your mark?
They are. They filed suit and began the process of registering their trademark. They've been using it since 2000, so they should have no problem getting the trademark, since the system is "first to use", not "first to file".
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
Microsoft did not own bing.com until March 4, 2009 when the domain ownership changed from "Davryn Pty Ltd" in Melbourne, Australia to Microsoft. Since 2002 the name bing.com has had several owners, including some guy in Michigan, someone in Denver; Palo Alto, CA; was transferred to an Australian company in 2007 until MS bought it in 2009. So no, Microsoft does not have long-standing claims on the Bing name, at least based on their domain registration.
(Reference: Domaintools.com Whois History records).