SAN DIEGO, California – June 1, 2004 – The Amsterdam District Court ruled on May 27, 2004 in favor of Lindows, Inc. on all counts in Microsoft’s second attempt for a preliminary injunction on trademark infringement and has ordered Microsoft to pay Lindows 944 Euros. The court agreed with Lindows that not every use of the trade name Lindows infringes on the trademark “windows”.
“This victory is quite a turnaround because Microsoft had asked for a daily fine of 100,000 euros to be levied against us and instead they are the ones required to pay,” said Michael Robertson, chief executive officer of Lindows, Inc. “We hope Microsoft can move past these legal tactics and learn to compete in the marketplace rather than the courtroom.”
According to the ruling Lindows has complied with the use of the trade name and can continue to use the name Lindows on a limited basis, accompanied at all times with the additional phrase that Lindows is not affiliated with “windows” in any way. Since the trade name Lindows is still legal outside the Benelux and the use of the name does not justify a competitive advantage, the court concluded that the use does not contravene the prior judgement nor the settlement agreement. The court could not require nor was it obligated to have Lindows adapt its trade name outside the Benelux, ruling there was no infringing use of the trade name, and therefore denying Microsoft’s claim and ordering the company to pay Lindows 944 Euros.
This ruling permits Lindows to resume sales in the Benelux countries. Beginning immediately residents of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg can order Linspire products for either digital or postal delivery at www.linspire.com/order. Sales through resellers are planned to resume in late June. To re-energize desktop Linux in Benelux, Lindows is making its latest version of Linspire available for free via BitTorrent for a limited time using the coupon code free4benelux. For complete instructions on receiving this special offer, please visit www.linspire.com/p2p-pr.
In 2003, Microsoft took its lawsuit overseas regarding MS Windows trademark infringement while the same issues were being heard in United States courts. In response to Microsoft’s lawsuits worldwide and to continue operating overseas, Lindows changed its product name and website address in April 2004 to Linspire. Microsoft then filed a second request for a preliminary injunction in Amsterdam stating that Lindows was continuing to infringe on their trademark based on small print use of the trade name. Currently no products are being sold under the Lindows or Linspire name into the Netherlands and the term “Lindows” is not used on the website except as required for corporate and copyright identification purposes.
Linspire is an affordable, full-featured computer operating system that delivers the power, security, stability and value of Linux with an easy and intuitive design. Linspire can be installed in less than 10 minutes or comes pre-installed on a wide-range of desktop and laptop computers. Linspire is currently being distributed to over 350 OEMs worldwide and continues to identify new channel partners and strategies to drive sales in emerging markets.
To learn more about the Linspire builder program, visit www.linspire.com/builders.
Visit www.linspire.com/microsoftfine for a copy of the ruling in English.
