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LindowsOS Becomes Linspire
Company announces name change in hopes of ending legal woes.
Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Embattled Linux-based software vendor Lindows.com formally changed the name
of its desktop operating system from LindowsOS to "Linspire" this week.
The name change came after a two-year trademark dispute with Microsoft.
The San Diego, California, company says it renamed its OS product in an
effort to end Microsoft's international legal attacks.
The Redmond, Washington, software giant has sued Lindows for trademark
infringement in several countries over the similarity between the Windows
and Lindows names.
Around the World
Despite court victories in the U.S. and other countries, a name change is
still necessary to counter Microsoft's strategy of suing Lindows around the
world, company Chief Executive Officer Michael Robertson says in a
statement.
The two companies are still going head-to-head in the U.S. where Microsoft
has applied for an appeal over the denial of its injunction requests.
Lindows has said that it hopes to go to trial in the U.S. case as soon as
possible and have "windows" declared a generic word. If it wins, Lindows
plans to ask the U.S. State Department to petition foreign governments to
invalidate Microsoft's Windows trademark. For now, however, Lindows has
become Linspire.
The Lindows name will still be used in certain instances in the U.S. and as
the corporate name, the company says.
For product information and purchasing, however, customers are being
directed to a new Linspire.com site. On Wednesday the Linspire site still
prominently featured the LindowsOS name.
Another site has been set up for corporate information on the company:
lindowsinc.com. That site had no content on it Wednesday, save for the
small-font moniker "lindowsinc.com."
In a message posted on the Linspire site, Robertson said that since Lindows
has thousands of Web pages and over 100 servers, the transition to the new
name will take time.
Making Changes
Lindows' Linspire metamorphosis is the second time this year that the
company has undergone a name change in response to its dispute with
Microsoft. In February the company formally changed its name to "Lin---s"
(pronounced Lindash) in several European countries where Microsoft had won
an injunction banning the use of the Lindows name.
A Lin---s.com site was erected especially for people in countries where
injunctions were issued--Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg
(Benelux)--although that site also remains empty. Earlier this month, a
Seattle, judge denied a request by Lindows that it strike a ruling made by
a Netherlands court in January ordering the company to make its site
inaccessible to people in the Benelux countries.
The Seattle judge also denied Lindows' request that it bar Microsoft from
filing trademark suits against it in international courts, dealing a blow
to the Linux vendor given that European courts have generally been more
sympathetic to Microsoft's case. Lindows did have luck with a French court
last week, however, when it denied Microsoft's request for a preliminary
injunction.
Microsoft representatives were not immediately available to comment on
whether the latest name change would end its litigation efforts against
Lindows. The company has said previously that the goal of its legal actions
has been a name change that won't obviously infringe on its Windows brand
name.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115668,tk,dn041404X,00.asp
Company announces name change in hopes of ending legal woes.
Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Embattled Linux-based software vendor Lindows.com formally changed the name
of its desktop operating system from LindowsOS to "Linspire" this week.
The name change came after a two-year trademark dispute with Microsoft.
The San Diego, California, company says it renamed its OS product in an
effort to end Microsoft's international legal attacks.
The Redmond, Washington, software giant has sued Lindows for trademark
infringement in several countries over the similarity between the Windows
and Lindows names.
Around the World
Despite court victories in the U.S. and other countries, a name change is
still necessary to counter Microsoft's strategy of suing Lindows around the
world, company Chief Executive Officer Michael Robertson says in a
statement.
The two companies are still going head-to-head in the U.S. where Microsoft
has applied for an appeal over the denial of its injunction requests.
Lindows has said that it hopes to go to trial in the U.S. case as soon as
possible and have "windows" declared a generic word. If it wins, Lindows
plans to ask the U.S. State Department to petition foreign governments to
invalidate Microsoft's Windows trademark. For now, however, Lindows has
become Linspire.
The Lindows name will still be used in certain instances in the U.S. and as
the corporate name, the company says.
For product information and purchasing, however, customers are being
directed to a new Linspire.com site. On Wednesday the Linspire site still
prominently featured the LindowsOS name.
Another site has been set up for corporate information on the company:
lindowsinc.com. That site had no content on it Wednesday, save for the
small-font moniker "lindowsinc.com."
In a message posted on the Linspire site, Robertson said that since Lindows
has thousands of Web pages and over 100 servers, the transition to the new
name will take time.
Making Changes
Lindows' Linspire metamorphosis is the second time this year that the
company has undergone a name change in response to its dispute with
Microsoft. In February the company formally changed its name to "Lin---s"
(pronounced Lindash) in several European countries where Microsoft had won
an injunction banning the use of the Lindows name.
A Lin---s.com site was erected especially for people in countries where
injunctions were issued--Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg
(Benelux)--although that site also remains empty. Earlier this month, a
Seattle, judge denied a request by Lindows that it strike a ruling made by
a Netherlands court in January ordering the company to make its site
inaccessible to people in the Benelux countries.
The Seattle judge also denied Lindows' request that it bar Microsoft from
filing trademark suits against it in international courts, dealing a blow
to the Linux vendor given that European courts have generally been more
sympathetic to Microsoft's case. Lindows did have luck with a French court
last week, however, when it denied Microsoft's request for a preliminary
injunction.
Microsoft representatives were not immediately available to comment on
whether the latest name change would end its litigation efforts against
Lindows. The company has said previously that the goal of its legal actions
has been a name change that won't obviously infringe on its Windows brand
name.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115668,tk,dn041404X,00.asp
