Posted on 01/19/2004 7:36:30 AM PST by Born Conservative
Victoria, British Columbia -- (OfficialSpin) -- 19/01/04 -- A 17 year-old high school student, Mike Rowe, who just so happens to earn a few extra bucks designing web sites, is facing the full fury of Microsoft Corporation who has accused the Victoria BC entrepreneur of copyright infringement.
You could say that Mr Rowe's problems began on 5 August 2003, when he registered the domain name [mikerowesoft.com], intending to promote his website development business.
On 19 November 2003, he received an email from Microsoft’s Canadian lawyers Smart & Biggar which said that their client wanted him to immediately transfer the domain name in question over to Microsoft.
Mike wrote back saying that he was not ready to hand over the domain name since he had put a lot of time and effort into establishing his name, including business cards and the cost of publishing his services on the Internet. He further explained that were he to give up the domain, he would lose all the time and effort he had put into it. He then suggested that Microsoft should offer some other proposal for settlement of their allegation.
Shortly thereafter, Mike received another email from Microsoft's lawyers in which they offered him just $10 in return for the domain name.
Surprised by their second message and in a knee-jerk response, which he now regrets, Mike countered with a request for $10,000. The message was sent as a reply to what he considered an insult—Microsoft's $10 offer—and was not intended as a serious proposal.
However, on 14 January 2004, Mike received a bundle of documents from Microsoft's lawyers. Their 25 page letter was now suggesting that it had always been his intention to sell the domain name to Microsoft for a large cash settlement, which Mike denies.
"I never thought my name would cause Microsoft to take this course of action against me. I just thought it was a good name for my small part-time business. In this letter it explains that Microsoft's customers could get confused between my page and theirs, which doesn't make any sense since Microsoft doesn't design websites. They do, however, sell a program called Microsoft FrontPage, which they say can cause some confusion between me making websites for my customers and them selling a program to make websites to their customers. I think it is just another example of a huge corporation just trying to intimidate a small business person."
Looks like Microsoft should have to answer for what seems a clear case of entrapment.
For years, IBM tried to get people to stop calling the 'Big Blue' but one day their lawyers slapped a lawsuit against this little guy, claiming infringement on their trademark. Naturally he folded.
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My favorite is when Oleg Cassini's lawyers sent JPL a 'cease and desist' for having named its spacecraft after their client. No kidding.
Could I name a company "Macrosaft"?...
--Boris
Wasn't the program
Tiny Basic offered by
the "Itty Bitty
Machine Company"
back in the good old days when
minimal was cool...
If this guy has had this name since childhood, take the buggers to the mat.
Needless to say, if Microsoft thinks this will confuse their customers, then they don't think much of their customer base.
You would be amazed at how many people type "hotmale.com" instead of "hotmail.com". An error I suggest you don't repeat, BTW ;)
The point being, of course, is that while Microsoft may not have a high opinion of the general public, that opinion is not entirely unjustified.
They already own the software world - now they want to own things that sound similar?
Homonymophobic?
Haha.......Totally!
You could, but Bill Gates might find "Microshaft" or "Macroshaft" more insulting.
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