Microsoft takes on teen's site MikeRoweSoft.com

CNN.Com / Technology ^ | Monday, January 19, 2004 Posted: 9:25 AM EST (1425 GMT) | Associated Press

[Bobby777]

Rowe, a 17-year-old high school senior and Web designer from Victoria, has angered the software giant by registering an Internet site with the address www.MikeRoweSoft.com.

"Since my name is Mike Rowe, I thought it would be funny to add 'soft' to the end of it," said Rowe.

[MaryFromMichigan]

From his site: Mike Rowe

"Yesterday, January 14, I received a package from the lawyers' office FedEx Priority Overnight. Inside I found a book over an inch thick with a 25 page letter explaining to me..."

Wish this kid luck!

[avg_freeper]

That reminds me of when a big powerful canned water company in American by the name of Budweiser successfully sued a very old renowned Czechoslovakian brewery over their name. The Czechoslovakian brewery which had been in existence for much longer had to change it's name just so the American Budweiser could put out more cans of dirty water.

[Archangelsk]

With Gates and Balmer it's always personal.

[DeSoto]

That is what I hate about Microsoft----- attitude, lack of humor, and insulting opinions of their customers.

MS sued Lindows because it sounded too much like Windows and thought that a potential customer of MS might mistake the two. How dumb do they think their customers are?

MS is suing MikeRoweSoft.com for the same reason. If I am too stupid to know how to spell MicroSoft, and I end up spelling it MikeRoweSoft instead, do they really want to have me as a customer calling tech support for help? Gimme a break.

Considering the amount of money that they are paying for their bevy of blood sucking vultures (attorneys) to harass this kid, they could pay his $10,000 price that he joked about a dozen times over and still have money left over to add to their $50 billion bank account.

It is about time that MS buys some common sense. Maybe putting this kid in charge of their legal dept. would be a good start.

[Azzurri]

This kid sounds like a wimp. He could easily win this case. Mike Rowe is his name. If I was him, I'd simply say my last name is pronounced Rowee. He could have a lot of fun against Microsoft on this case, but it appears he will cave.

[jjm2111]

"If Microsoft or any other company allowed this teenager to play off a copyrighted name, that company would have less ground to pursue those that use the company's name for nefarious purposes."

I doubt it. Someone using Microsoft logos, schemes, etc. to sell pirated software or some other nefarious purpose is in a different legal world than a teenager doing a spoof on his own name. You're just parroting lawerly cya double-speak.

Some idiot buying mecca cola because the labeling looked the same as coke and me putting up www.jjmthecokehead.com and a picture of me with a bottle of coca cola are two very different things.

[BJungNan]

No reasonable person is likely to confuse MikeRoweSoft for Microsoft. That is key. Microsoft should have simply offered to buy the name if they were that concerned about it. Then everyone could have had a good laugh at its desire to protect even obscure usages of is name instead of it making a stupid name for itself over a frivolous suit.

Additional note: The FR spell checker got confused. Hmmm, I thougt it was smarter than that. Type MikeRoweSoft in a reply and then do a FR spell check.

[Lurking Libertarian]

That reminds me of when a big powerful canned water company in American by the name of Budweiser successfully sued a very old renowned Czechoslovakian brewery over their name. The Czechoslovakian brewery which had been in existence for much longer had to change it's name just so the American Budweiser could put out more cans of dirty water.

The issue is still being fought, according to this article.

[John H K]

This could arguably be considered parody or satire, and the legal protections on parody and satire strike me as very strong.

[dware]

The site is down now

[MD_Willington_1976]

Next time Uncle Bill goes to Whistler BC he had better keep an eye out on his gear...I am sure this will not go over too well with the locals around there...especially the younger crowd.

[Bush2000]

I understand it to a degree ... if MikeRoweSoft made an operating system, a word processor, etc. ... perhaps he could go with MikeRoweSoftware and then I say they have no case at all ... in fairness, the phonetic is the same ... but ...

"Microsoft" is a registered trademark. The problem is that this kid has a name ("Mike-Rowe-Soft") which is phonetically identical to "Microsoft". Personally, I'd consider dropping the matter, if I were Microsoft; however, there is another thing to be considered. A trademark only remains a trademark as long as you defend it. When it falls into common idiom and the holder fails to go after offenders, it establishes a precedent where the holder has a much harder time later on convincing the court that it should grant relief.

The basic rule here is that, if someone uses your trademark or something similar enough to cause someone to confuse their use with your trademark, the court will probably grant you some relief. There are still issues over whether a trademark (ie. Windows) is overly broad. Microsoft is litigating that issue with the Lindows guys. The whole point here is to prevent knockoffs: Microsofte, Mikrosoft, Micr0s0ft, etc.

The whole issue is rather ridiculous, on its face, but I can see how both parties would be annoyed.

[StriperSniper]

Stick it in an I/O port where the sun don't shine Bill(Gates)!!!

[RobRoy]

The Wright brothers tried to patent "flying." Apple tried to patent the "GUI" look and feel.

Fortunately, the law does have limits. Phonics is irrelevant to me for this sort of thing. Spelling is what matters. Would a person that cannot read english confuse Mikerowesoft with Microsoft?

[LouD]

I know Microsoft bashing is popular, but I have to side with them in this case. Is it ridiculous? Of course. However, unless they aggressively defend their trademarks from infringement, they will lose the exclusive use of those trademarks.

That's why Coca-Cola sends people out to order a "Coke" in restaurants that serve Pepsi. Unless they defend the trademark, they lose it, and all colas become "cokes" all tissues become "kleenex" and all software becomes "microsoft" - Lower case intended, because they will no longer be proper nouns.

[MaryFromMichigan]

The site is down now

Hmmmm....
Whaddya think, bandwidth or legal difficulties?

[DallasMike]

That's why Coca-Cola sends people out to order a "Coke" in restaurants that serve Pepsi. Unless they defend the trademark, they lose it, and all colas become "cokes" ....

You're spot on right in your analysis. However, Coke undoubtedly has a rough time in Texas where all soft drinks are called "Coke," especially in the smaller towns. You can still go into the corner cafe in Podunk, Texas and tell the waitress that you want a Coke. She'll ask you what kind and you can say "Sprite" and she'll honor your request without blinking an eyd.

[Cardini]

Bill Gates is a greedy piece of liberal filth.

His liberal pig wife knows why he called it Microsoft!

[subterfuge]

"This kid sounds like a wimp"

17 yo kid versus one of the wealthiest and most ruthless companies in the world and you call him a wimp? What were you doing when you were that age?

[Azzurri]

17 yo kid versus one of the wealthiest and most ruthless companies in the world and you call him a wimp? What were you doing when you were that age?

The kid is shying away from a challenge. Microsoft has nothing on him that he can't defend easily, they are merely trying to strong arm him into giving up the domain. $10? I'd be insulted, too, seeing as that won't even cover the cost of registering the domain name. I own a website where a corporation threatened that they owned the copyright. Big deal, I sent them a threatening letter right back from my den, not from my lawyer. They folded like a cheap suit and I never heard from them again.