Microsoft faces Office Live lawsuit

TalkBack 15 of 101:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Are you really?

There are well-established procedures for performing searches on trademarks, something of which MSFT's army of lawyers must be well aware. You can be certain that MSFT wouldn't let someone infringe on their trademark. Or don't you remember their harassment of Mike Rowe? Because he had a Web site parodying their name using his own? Something like www.mikerowesoft.com. How pathetic was that, from the largest software company in the world?

I'm not an expert in trademark law or even that well versed in it. But according to one site (http://www.gds-legal.com/Trademark-Copyright-Attorney.html), "unregistered marks (known as Common Law marks) can cause problems since even though they are not registered, they are still legally protectable." That jibes with what I've heard over the years. So even if the trademark was never actually registered, the company has some claim. And they did register it.

Perhaps MSFT actually believes their argument about Office Live not being a valid trademark. But I doubt it. Because I'm fairly certain that if the roles were reversed and the circumstances were otherwise the same, MSFT would be the one filing a suit. They probably dropped the ball on this one or perhaps they just decided that they could bully their way through it. Of course, I don't know for certain and neither do you. So you should really refrain from speaking for them. Unless you have inside information and that seems unlikely.

Legally, their point may have merit, but logically (not nearly the same thing), it doesn't seem that way to me. The issue, as I understand such things, is that MSFT's use may dilute the value of Office Live LLC's trademark. Sounds like it would.

Saying this isn't newsworthy? With all the hype that MSFT has created around the name? Please. And if you are referring to Apple's use of the iPhone name for your example, it's a bad one. Apple was informed by Cisco in advance that there was an issue and apparently chose to ignore it. Not exactly the poster child for respect of trademarks.

User dissatisfaction with MSFT is well deserved even with all the positive things the company has done (standardizing software interfaces and drivers, which allowed PCs to come to the masses and even creating some decent software from time to time). Vista notwithstanding, because the jury is still out on that one and will be for a while. So yes, that makes them an easy target. Does the media look for easy targets? Usually, since that's more profitable (more bang for the buck) and they are after all generally businesses. Finding the truth is often not the goal, if it ever really was. But that doesn't excuse MSFT's behavior.

I personally don't hate MSFT. It's a corporation and not worthy of the emotion. But I can dislike their practices and I very often do.

Posted by: mds_z   Posted on: 02/27/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• The Impact of Virtualization Software on Operating Environments VMware Today's use of virtualization technology allows IT professionals to ... Download Now
• Reducing Server Total Cost of Ownership with VMware Virtualization Software VMware VMware virtualization enables customers to reduce their server TCO and ... Download Now
• VMware Infrastructure: A Guide to Bottom-Line Benefits VMware Frustrated by the costs of maintain ever larger data centers?or building ... Download Now