The software company, in the midst of a wide-ranging dispute with Microsoft regarding trademark rights to the Windows name, announced on Tuesday that it is now doing business in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg as Lin- - -s(pronounced Lindash).
A Dutch judge last month granted Microsoft's request for a preliminary injunction, barring Lindows from doing business under that name.
The Dutch case is one of several European venues where Microsoft has expanded its legal battle against Lindows, claiming that the company's moniker is an illegal attempt to profit on the name of Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system.
For the original suit, a US federal judge recently ruled in Lindows' favour, declaring that the case's jury should consider whether "windows" was a generic computing term at the time Microsoft was granted the trademark, as Lindows contends it was, and arguing that such prior use would render Microsoft's trademark invalid. Microsoft says the case should be based on current use of the term and is appealing the ruling.
The US judge earlier rejected Microsoft's request for an injunction similar to the one granted by the Dutch court.
Lindows is fighting the European trademark actions along with the US case but decided to revert to the truncated name in the Netherlands for the time being, according to a company statement. "Dutch citizens deserve the same choices that are currently available to the citisens of more than one hundred countries around the world," Lindows chief executive Michael Robertson said in the statement.
The company has set up a new Web site, Lin- - -s.com, for Benelux customers.
Talkback
The obvious reason for Microsoft to pursue all these expensive legal battles in so many countries (escpecially in places like Luxemburg where Lindows market share is extremely small) is to expend all of Lindows capital so that it can't market its product.
Microsoft has 100's of billions in the bank where's Lindows has very little. These lawsuits in themselves are just the latest example of anti-competitive practise from Microsoft.