Lindows Ducks Another Microsoft Motion

A U.S. federal judge has denied Microsoft's request for reconsideration on a ruling that, if granted, would have barred upstart Linux vendor Lindows.com from using the name Lindows, citing Microsoft's own evidence as a reason for his decision.

Microsoft had requested reconsideration of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington Judge John C. Coughenour's first ruling, saying the judge had "a fundamental misapprehension" of the issues and law at stake. Coughenour had ruled that Microsoft did not supply sufficient evidence to prove that it would be hurt by Lindows' use of its name. He also suggested that Microsoft's grasp on the trademark for its operating system Windows could be tenuous, as the term "windows" might be generic.

In the new ruling this week, Coughenour denied any mistakes of law in his original ruling and ruled he had properly applied the test of generic use to the term "windows." Coughenour based his ruling, in part, on information supplied by Microsoft in its original filings against Lindows. The ruling will allow Lindows, based in San Diego, to continue to use its name pending the outcome of a trial that is set to begin in April 2003.

Own Ads Contradict

Press reports from when Microsoft introduced Windows, as well as entries from Microsoft's own computer-terms dictionary, show "windows" is a generic term, Coughenour ruled--a point Microsoft was arguing. Frequent references to "window managers"--a once-common term for programs that control the way windows are drawn and behave on screen--in articles submitted by Microsoft are evidence that Microsoft's Windows is a product within a group of products, a test of generic status, Coughenour ruled.

Coughenour further underscored his ruling by citing Microsoft's own advertisements from the early 1980s, which describe Windows as a "window manager" or "windowing environment." Microsoft's own computer-terms dictionary refers to the company's Windows operating system as a "windowing environment" and "windowing software," the judge noted.

Microsoft's "coupling the company's name with its various Windows versions ... showed that it understood "windows" to denote a class or products," not a specific one, Coughenour ruled.

Lindows offers a version of the Linux operating system that it says will run a wide range of programs written for Microsoft Windows without modification. The company was originally sued at the end of 2001 by Microsoft. Coughenour denied in March Microsoft's request for an injunction that would have barred Lindows from using its name.