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Microsoft fails to stop Lindows.com
Thursday, March 21 2002
by Paula Mythen


A US court has denied a motion by Microsoft to block a San Diego software company
from branding its software as Lindows. 

Lindows.com, a company run by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, has created a
Linux-based operating system named LindowsOS, capable of running popular Windows
applications.

 

"We're obviously satisfied with the court's ruling. Our hope is that we can
move beyond the courtroom and focus on our goal of bringing choice back to the PC
business," said Robertson. "We've shown we can defend ourselves against a much
larger corporation and we'll continue to battle in a trial if necessary." 

 

In the 30-page ruling, US District Court Judge John C. Coughenour denied
Microsoft's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Lindows.com from
using the terms "LindowsOS" and "Lindows.com." 

 

He found that Microsoft had not shown that Lindows.com should be prevented from
using the names Lindows.com and LindowsOS as part of its  business, stating
that, "Microsoft has raised serious questions about the validity of its
trademark [Windows]."   

 

The ruling states that "Although Lindows.com certainly made a conscious
decision to play with fire by choosing a product and a company name that differs
by only one letter from the world's leading computer software program, one could
just as easily conclude that in 1983 Microsoft made an equally risky decision to
name its product after a term commonly used in the trade..."

 

Although Microsoft's request for a preliminary injunction in the case was denied
it does not mean that the company cannot seek a trial on the issue.

 

LindowsOS consists of the Linux operating system, a graphical user interface
similar to Windows, and a layer of translation code that makes it possible to use
Windows application programs as well as those written for Linux, the company
says. Designed to be download, the system can be installed and run on more than
one computer without serial code registration.