| Lindows.com releases opposition papers for Microsoft lawsuit |
Feb. 14, 2002
San Diego, CA -- (press release excerpt) -- Lindows.com today released copies of its main opposition papers to the pending trademark lawsuit filed by Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") at www.lindows.com/opposition. In the lawsuit, Microsoft seeks to prevent Lindows.com from using the term "LindowsOS" and "Lindows.com."
(This press release summarizes some, but not all of the major opposition points. There are some portions which are not readable because Microsoft claims that certain facts about what they have done in the past should be kept confidential. Lindows.com intends to ask the Judge to allow them to make those parts public, but until then, this is all Lindows.com can share.)
According to a statement posted at their website, Lindows.com claims Microsoft is trying to prevent the public from using a descriptive English word "windows" which has had meaning in the computer industry for years prior to Microsoft's use. They explain how companies such as Xerox, DEC, and Apple have used the term for years to describe graphical user interfaces which incorporate graphical elements to display and manage applications. Not until 1983 did Microsoft start using the term 'windows', in connection with an operating system product. Microsoft waited 7 years before they decided to file a trademark application for "windows" in 1990. US Patent and Trademark Office records show that at least one company lodged a significant protest. The US Patent and Trademark Office subsequently rejected Microsoft's application because "windows" was a generic word. (Microsoft has a pattern of pairing their name with a generic term such a "Microsoft Word." This is discussed in a Declaration by John Dvorak in relationship to this case at www.lindows.com/opposition.) The US PTO later reversed itself only after Microsoft .
A Washington, DC Court has found that over the last decade Microsoft has engaged in unlawful practices and spent billions on marketing and advertising to establish and extend an illegal monopoly. "No matter how much money a company spends, they should not be allowed to prevent others from using a descriptive term widely used in the industry; especially if that company has been found guilty of illegal tactics to build and maintain its monopoly." said Michael Robertson, CEO for Lindows.com. "This would be like a furniture company selling a 'Super Chair', driving other furniture companies out of business illegally, and then trying to gain exclusive rights to the word "chair" and block all competitors from using it."
Another critical fact that Lindows.com points to as clearly illuminating Microsoft's true motivations is that over the last 10 years Microsoft has never filed a lawsuit similar to the one they filed against Lindows.com in spite of the fact that there are hundreds of products which use the term "windows." Lindows.com users helped to identify hundreds of products which use or incorporate the term "windows." These products run on a variety of operating systems (including Linux and Macintosh), and some are actually operating systems themselves. There are commercial products, shareware, freeware, open source, and even hardware products. None of these products are made by Microsoft; none have licensed the term "windows" from Microsoft, but Microsoft has never filed a lawsuit against any of them. Take a trip to any computer store, flip through a mail order catalog or visit any software site on the Internet and you will find many, many products entitled windows something or something windows. Additionally, hundreds more products containing "win" or other such variations, yet Microsoft hasn't brought any action against them. Ask yourself this -- "Why would Microsoft allow these thousands of products to use what they claim to be their trademark with no protest whatsoever, but decide to sue Lindows.com?" The fact that Microsoft is targeting only Lindows.com demonstrates their real motivation is to stop a potential competitor and NOT that they believe there's confusion concerning the product name.
While Microsoft alleges people will be confused when they asked the judge to shut down Lindows.com, they offered no evidence whatsoever that anyone was actually confused between Microsoft's programs and LindowsOS. In fact, an independent marketing company conducted a survey, asking over 14,000 likely buyers to participate. The results revealed that not even a SINGLE respondent was confused. The survey was supervised by an expert from San Diego State University. Read about the survey results at www.lindows.com/opposition. Microsoft offered no expert testimony (apart from Microsoft employees). They conducted no surveys, but if they had, they would have found out exactly what the other research revealed; that there is NO confusion whatsoever among potential buyers.
Michael Robertson commented, "We want to focus on building our product and not fighting in court, but we also think it's important to stand up to the bully on the first playground encounter otherwise he'll chase you home every day. We have offered a compromise to Microsoft whereby we would continue to use our company name Lindows.com since that bears no resemblance whatsoever to Microsoft, but we would not use LindowsOS as our product name. This offer was not accepted."
The next step in the lawsuit is a court hearing February 27th where the judge will hear oral arguments and then make his ruling either at that time or a later date.
(Click here for further information)
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