Because, after all, a certain Redmond software company should naturally be concerned that a home-based web design outfit in Canada run by a high school kid named Mike Rowe — and, thus, cleverly named Mikerowesoft — might confuse people into thinking that it was really a Seattle-based computer-industry-dominating multi-zillion-dollar firm run by a college drop-out named Bill Gates — cleverly named Micro$oft.
Thus, it’s only natural a flock of lawyers would start sending cease-and-desist letters and claiming Rowe is trying to blackmail the corporate behemoth for thousands — thousands, if you can believe it — of dollars (Canadian, at that!).
Feel free to visit him and drop a dollar or two in his Defense Fund PayPal account, if you’re so inclined.
(via Ipse Dixit)
It appears that Gate’s Minions are regretting their automatic deployment of the attack lawyers:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/legal/0,39020651,39119214,00.htm
Sweet.
However, after the case received widespread coverage on the Internet, Microsoft has admitted it may have taken things too far and has promised to treat Rowe fairly. A Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet UK: “We appreciate that Mike Rowe is a young entrepreneur who came up with a creative domain name. We take our trademark seriously, but maybe a little too seriously in this case.”
[…] Microsoft hopes to resolve the problem in a way that both parties are happy: “We are currently in the process of resolving this matter in a way that will be fair to him and satisfy our obligations under trademark law,” the spokesperson said.
And he settled for a new domain name, redirection, MSDN membership … and an Xbox. Not all that bad a deal>