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Very disappointingVery disappointingPosted Jul 19, 2004 20:26 UTC (Mon) by ccyoung (subscriber, #16340)Parent article: Microsoft and Lindows Settle Trademark Case MS continues to buy their way out of breaking the law. I was really hoping that Robison(sp?), for all his faults, was the man with enough courages and determination to go against Microsoft. Now, instead of admiring his integrity, I'm left wondering if this were merely a shakedown. A successful lawsuit against Windows TM would have been worth far more than $20M. What else was involved?
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Very disappointing Posted Jul 19, 2004 21:55 UTC (Mon) by LogicG8 (guest, #11076) [Link] I'm disappointed as well. MSFT chose a common term to use as theirOS trademark and they deserve no protection for it. I think it would have been rather humorous to watch MS scramble to change the names of their product lines. OTOH I'm not really disappointed with Lin{dows,spire} they lost the I've never really been impressed with Lindows technically, morally
Very disappointing Posted Jul 19, 2004 22:40 UTC (Mon) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link] Microsoft wasn't breaking the law, and they weren't accused of doing so. Microsoft accused Lindows of breaking the law, and had gotten some localized rulings that made Lindows need a new name. At that point, it looks quite bad for Microsoft's position to buy their way out of the case; if they had a strong position, they could just win the suit, get damages, and demonstrate actually having the rights to the name. So Microsoft retains the "Windows" trademark, but we all know they couldn't keep it in court. For that matter, this settlement makes it more likely that a small project with a Windows-like name will find legal representation willing to work for a piece of a settlement or the chance of Microsoft having to pay the defendant's legal fees. I bet wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows) would have found someone to go through the legal system for them if it were clear there was $20M to be had.
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