Microsoft threatening to sue me!

[BookMarc]

Hi People,

Microsoft is threatening to sue us over a domain name www.windowssystemoptimizer.com . they had sent us a notice sometime back... to which i had my lawyer reply. now i get this letter again saying that i had better leave it or i get sued!

NEED HELP & ADVICE!

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD AROUND ... HELP US FIGHT MICROSOFT!

some facts:
Microsoft was infact very recently involved in a very similar case, involving another such domain name and software author who did not want to fight Microsoft and gave up the domain name and the assigned all rights of the same to Microsoft. Soon after which it started using the domain name and launched a product by the same name. http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaki...578147096.html

By Microsoft's own standards they are using the trademark Vista which is owned by another software company in Redmond, and as such Microsoft says "We are only using the word Vista paired with our trademark Windows. The two together - "Windows Vista" - form the name of the next version of the Windows operating system," http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaki...578147096.html

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD AROUND ... HELP US FIGHT MICROSOFT!

[MusicWave]

whose us

but seriously these are not nice people, they were trained by billy gates

billy gates.... he looks like a innocent kid... i don't know what went wrong

[jberryhill]

they had sent us a notice sometime back... to which i had my lawyer reply. now i get this letter again

You should contact your lawyer. They shouldn't be writing to you.

While the domain is used to advertise a product called "Windows System Optimizer", there is nothing there which indicates it is not a Microsoft product. It's easy to see why they are upset.

[BookMarc]

us = my company and me.
yea, they replied to my lawyers only and we just got the news from our lawyer todays that they want to take the action into court if we do not oblige.

we have disclaimer that we are not associated with MS in any way.

Thanks

[jberryhill]

we have disclaimer that we are not associated with MS in any way.

Yes, on a separate page from a lonely "disclaimer" link in a grey bar down at the left bottom of the home page. That doesn't do much in view of the overall impression given by the home page.

we just got the news from our lawyer

And your lawyer thought it would be a good idea for you to post this on a public message board?

[DNGeeks]

So you want to use someone else's trademark and feel slighted when they tell you to stop using it. Then you use an example from a news article where someone uses someone else's trademark and they were already told to stop using it. Now you want the world to help you "fight" a company who registered their trademark possibly before you were born and are protecting their brand.

Trademarks are a fact of life, and no matter what you think, if you try to fight this you would lose.

[DaddyHalbucks]

My advice is to back down.

[jberryhill]

You see... looking at the website, all anyone really sees is "Windows System Optimizer"... even the copyright notice suggests that the copyright is owned by windowssystemoptimizer.com. Buried in the "contact" page, there is a "c/o Net Always", but there is no reason that the product can't be called "Net Always' System Optimizer for Windows®" and an otherwise clear representation that this is a third-party piece of software for use with MS' operating system.

If Bill Gates and Microsoft are so awful, then what are you doing making software for MS systems? Bill Gates created the market in which you want to profit, and not only that, you want to give the impression you are selling his stuff. Why don't you go write software for Linux if MS is that evil?

And, please, before the "but windows is a generic term" folks show up, bear in mind that we are talking about a piece of software specifically designed to work with the Microsoft operating system, and not something that works with "windows" in any general sense.

No, you don't get to do that.

[DNjet]

Complete uphill battle with this one, the site would have to be extremely profitable to battle for it , as it will be expensive for sure.

[manish]

Unless this site makes you real good money, there is no point pursuing the domain.

"Net Always' System Optimizer for Windows®"

sounds way better

[labrocca]

Sorry but you are gonna lose this very quickly. Give up the name. You messed up from day one and JBH is right. A good lawyer will tell you this is lost cause and not take your money. See if you can rebrand and tell MS that you will redirect the domain to your new one and that you will not renew. This might be your only option that's not gonna get you sued. And that's IF they agree to this as a settlement.

[Rarethings]

lb makes a very valid point. ^

[jberryhill]

http://www.unclebubby.com/wav/wav/MO...s/NEBDYHLP.WAV

billy gates.... he looks like a innocent kid... i don't know what went wrong

Whatever it was, let's hope it keeps happening...

LONDON -- Imperial College London has received a £4.9 ($8.6) million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a simple, affordable and rapid test to measure the health of the immune system in HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries.

[MusicWave]

that's alot of nice

i remember when he and stevie were working out in the garage...hmm
.
.
.
.
.

[DNGeeks]

While we're at it...

University of Manitoba (Winnipeg)
$5,875,500 grant over 4 years to implement a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention program in the 'Corridor Region" between Maharashtra and Karnataka

In Jan 2004 the Gates foundation awarded the U of Manitoba 22 million