[Am-info] Microsoft Goes After Windows Domain

[Mitch Stone]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20021210/ 
tc_pcworld/107816

Microsoft Goes After Windows Domain

Joris Evers, IDG News Service

A Dutch computer enthusiast who runs a popular Windows XP (news - web  
sites) gossip Web site has been summoned by Microsoft to hand over the  
WindowsXP.nu domain name.

Steven Bink registered WindowsXP.nu two years ago. The site has become  
an important spot for Microsoft beta testers and hobbyists looking for  
news and gossip about Microsoft products, logging up to 20,000 page  
views a day, said Bink.

On Monday, Bink received a letter from Microsoft's Dutch counsel  
accusing him of trademark infringement and giving him until December 19  
to sign over the domain, or face possible legal action. Microsoft has  
registered Windows as a trademark in the Netherlands and other  
countries.

"He [Bink] may of course write about Windows XP, but not on a Web site  
with a domain name that is identical to Microsoft's brand," said Alfred  
Meijboom, a partner at Kennedy Van der Laan, the law firm hired by  
Microsoft.

Bink, a 32-year-old owner of an IT services company, is baffled that  
Microsoft has come knocking two years after he started the site, but  
said he won't fight the Redmond, Washington, software maker.

"It's strange that Microsoft comes calling now with the fact that  
Windows is their brand. I want to see if there is room to negotiate,  
but I don't have any illusions about going to court," he said.

Cracking Down

Microsoft seems to be cracking down on trademark infringement. The  
company has also asked several small European software makers to rename  
products that had Windows in the name. The makers of "Windows Spy" and  
"Windows Backup Wizard," for example, received letters from Microsoft  
lawyers.

In the U.S., Microsoft filed suit against Lindows.com of San Diego in  
December last year. Two rulings denied Microsoft's requests to bar  
Lindows from using its company name and the name LindowsOS. The case is  
currently awaiting a judge's ruling in a U.S. District Court in  
Seattle, according to the Lindows Web site.

Meijboom denied Microsoft has launched a campaign against trademark  
infringers, saying that the law firm is not sending around letters or  
subpoenas for Microsoft. "There is no offensive from the side of  
Microsoft," he said.