[ale] [LONG] Bad News for Microsoft

[Randolph Wilson]

On Feb 11, 2004, at 10:21 PM, fgz wrote:

>
> This is all I saw of it.

Sorry - it didn't clean up like it was supposed too - I won't repeat 
that mistake.

The bottom line is that Microsoft has been told that their claim of 
owning the term Windows is dependent on the use of the term at the time 
they started using it, not what its use is now.  The judge has also 
ruled that once a word is generic, it is always generic - no amount of 
marketing or monopolizing can change that.  Lindows has amassed vast 
quantities of evidence that windows was generically used in the 
computer industry prior to MS windows, and that this was why Microsoft 
chose it.  This ruling comes really close to telling Microsoft that 
they are going to lose.

Microsoft has requested (and received) permission to appeal these 
rulings, and suggested that this is all some kind of victory for them.

Lindows says it is all just a delaying tactic while Microsoft continues 
to threaten Lindows partners, esp. overseas.

I assume that they will eventually post all of this on their website at 
<http://info.lindows.com/lindows/> where you can read most of the saga. 
  Unfortunately, I have just discovered that the news is not all bad for 
Microsoft - they have had a significant victory overseas 
<http://clicknrun.com/killchoice.html> .

Of course, one has to wonder who is next - X Windows, Pella Windows, 
Windex ?