Some of you may remember when Linspire used to be called something else. It is recommended you don't say the work "L-I-N-D-O-W-S" out loud when reading this article.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=208&item=3931241522

That is awesome.

OMG! Letters! whats so special about something that spells lindows?

Haha.

Good stuff..
Gotta love ebay.

Jsut think what Microsft would do (or rather did) to a company called "Lindows"

They cant do anything... its like if i made a software company called ficrosoft, or a drink called mocca mola. They cant do diddly squat

You'd think that

What, like "Windols"? :p

legally, Microsoft can't do very much against competitors. However, it does possess billions of spare dollars with which they can bribe arbitrators, which I highly suspect they have done over the years.

Boco, don't act as if you know what you're talking about, when you really don't.

In the UNITED STATES (I don't give a damn about Scottishmansland), Microsoft or Coca Cola can (and most likely would) sue you for what you suggested, and would WIN. There was a case a few years ago of some group who tried to look like the Salvation Army (it was call Salvation Arms or something like that) who were out to make the Salvation Army look bad (Why, I don't know), but were taken to court and fined quite a bit of money. There's an exact term for it, but I can't remember it now. Perhaps when I get more time, I will find my old law textbooks and get the exact term and case number for your ignorant ***.

Until then, don't say anything stupid (I know it's hard for you, but please try).

Might i point out to you that kid that called his website mikerowesoft.com, they tried to sue him and they didnt win anything but a load of crappy news stories

Yeah, but the kid's name was MIKE ROWE .

and? whats your point? my drink is called mocca mola...

Is your name Mocca Mole?

what do you think? is the owner of microsoft called micro soft?

You obviously don't get my drift... maybe we'll have this discussion again, after your mental capabilities have fully developed. I understand that pre-pubescent kids can't comprehend very simple ideas and facts, so I'll let it off now.

I have to go to work now, anyway, and be a productive member of the planet.

I ought to kick your *** for that comment

]-[ellequin is obviously one of the extremely-pro corporation opinions, in his belief that a corporate trademark entitles one to all similar names. (Legally, this has shown to be not the case, as Intel had to trademark 8080, 8086, 80286, 80386, & 80486 and other similar numbers separately, before they were told they couldn't trademark numbers) The only exceptions for this trademark is if somebody has a corporate trademark or other recognised name that is closer. As for his comments, they were quite uncalled for.

Pot calling kettle black...

Actually, Microsoft threatened to sue the kid and he took the site down.

it ended at ten thousand... just look at the bid history http://offer.ebay.com/ws3/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=3931241522

Internet tough guy detected!

I don't think it ever went to court, he took down the site for some money.

Boco vs. Helliquin: Best internet back and fourth of the year!

While this isn't the 1950s, this happened.

Back in the 40s, a comic character named Captain Marvel appeared in a series called Whiz Comics (issue 2 to be exact). The guy wore an all red outfit with a yellow lightning bolt on his chest. The character was actually a 12 year old boy named Billy Batson that worked as a news announcer for a radio station. When he said SHAZAM! became Captain Marvel. He was a human, born on Earth, given his powers by an old wizard (Shazam), and had no laser eyes but only strength, speed, flight, blah blah.

The comic character became so popular, because it appealed to kids. It wasn't a kiddie comic like only kids read it, but teenagers, etc enjoyed it because here is this boy, around there age, playing super hero, what every kid wanted to be.

DC comics got pissed. The comic was so popular it was out selling Batman, Superman, etc.

So they sued the people who made Captain Marvel, claiming it was based off Superman. The 2 bare little resemblance to each other in both costumes and looks. Both are musclar, have red on there outfits and dark hair, but the colors are completely different. After all, Marvel doesn't have blue on. And Superman doesn't have white on.

DC Comics eventually won the lawsuit and acquired the legal rights to Captain Marvel and now Captain Marvel is a DC character.

The moral is, even if they are totally different, if there is any similarity, the more powerful can win. While Captain Marvel sold more than the most popular DC comic, DC was still king cause they produced a dozen others that out did Marvel.

The basis of microsoft sueing mikrowsoft and lindows is because the names beared too much similarity to their well known trade marked product and title, they also developed similar products which they beleived the public in casual conversation could mis-interpret the name.

If you saw Lindows in print, you might not associate it with microsoft, but if you hear someone talking about it, there is a chance you may hear it as windows or think they were talking about windows.

same with mikerowsoft, he was building websites for a sumer job, microsoft products include frontpage, a tool used to make webpages, they beleived that the spoken mikerowsoft could be mistaken for microsoft and sued for their interest.

if you produced a cola called mocca mola, coke CAN and WILL sue you because you have a product that is similar with a similar name which could be mistaken for their own product.

say for chance that your cola was REALLY bad and the entire town was abuzz with the news of this bad cola, you decide not to try coke because you "heard" coka cola when they infact said mocca mola... see my point?

yeah, thats why i love being canadian....

Maybe if it was Moca Mola or something like that. Cola is a generic term

This is the best E-bay ever, and the worst thread ever.

I dunno, but this made me have the urge to post:

NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED!

I remember the story about how George Lucas was going to file a lawsuit against a company that made a surgical tool that was called a "lightsaber" because it was a knife that used a laser to cut. Pretty silly that GL would even care if you ask me.

Also on the legal front, am I correct in my understanding that in America, companies MUST act to protect their trademarks (by suing in the cases of Lindows and mikerowesoft) or else risk losing their trademark? I believe all countries require this to a certain degree, but it isn't as strong a requirement as in the USA.

On another note, does anyone know what happened to Linspire's challenge to Microsoft's Windows trademark? They talked about bringing it as part ot the Lindows case, because "windows" is a generic term. I haven't heard anything about it since, though,

Only if you're reffering to a silver pot. I don't use such crude and mean remarks like that, and without well-though reason.

Nah, it was just past his bedtime.

Oh? You constantly insult people, especially their intelligence. You may not flat out say "OMG u r teh st00pid" instead you make comments like "Mikus thinks with his lower brain." Oh, but I get it, you have "well-thought" reason behind the insults. Naturally that makes it okay...

Correct. And it was a wise decision on his part. Microsoft would have just thrown money at the problem until his dad went bankrupt. You can't fight the system! He had a good case to the name, what with it it being his name and all. But where is a 17 year old kid going to get enough money to fight microsoft with its magical bottomless money bag and its team of genetically engineered lawyer cyborgs?