Microsoft Seeks to Quash Lindows in Canada

After suing in the U.S. and several European countries, Microsoft is taking its trademark infringement case against Linux vendor Lindows.com to Canada.

The software giant has filed suit against Lindows.com in a Canadian court, says Stacy Drake, a Microsoft spokesperson. As in the cases in the other countries, Microsoft is asking the court to bar the company from using the Lindows name, arguing it is too close to "Windows" and might confuse customers.

"In response to what is obvious infringement of our trademark Windows name, we have taken steps in Canada to curtail the misleading behavior on the part of Lindows.com," Drake says.

Microsoft sued Lindows.com in the U.S. in December 2001. Since then it has lost two requests for an injunction barring Lindows.com from using the Lindows name. Earlier in February, Lindows.com claimed a victory when a U.S. district court ruled that, if the case went before a jury, it would instruct the jury to consider whether "windows" was a generic term before Microsoft introduced software with that name in 1985. Microsoft is appealing that ruling.

Microsoft has had more success in Europe, where it won injunctions in Sweden and the Benelux region, which consists of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. Lindows.com this week announced it would do business in those countries under a new name: Lind---s, pronounced "Lindash."

Ongoing Battle

Lindows.com CEO Michael Robertson, has characterized Microsoft as a bully, using lawsuits "as a battering ram to smash Linux." Lindows is the only viable desktop Linux offering and poses a significant threat to Microsoft's rule on desktop computers, Robertson said Thursday after learning of the suit.

Microsoft, however, sticks to its statement that its grudge with Lindows.com is only about the company's name.

"Our actions are only about their name. There are many Linux operating systems on the market using names that are distinctly their own and don't infringe on our trademark and we have no issue with those companies," Drake says.

Robertson believes his company may have lost the cases in Europe because the term "windows" has no generic meaning in languages other than English, he says. That's different in the U.S. and in Canada, he notes.

Microsoft has also claimed it won an injunction against Lindows.com in Finland. However, according to Lindows, no legal barrier prevents Finnish citizens from buying from the company under its Lindows name.

Lindows Product News

Aside from its continuing legal news, Lindows.com also had some product news on Thursday. The company has added support for Intel's Centrino product for notebooks to its software. The Centrino package of the Pentium M processor, a mobile chipset, and the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 chip was introduced in March 2003.

Centrino-based portable computers running LindowsOS Laptop Edition should be out within two months, according to Lindows. Intel had said it was preparing a Linux driver for Centrino products.