Microsoft vs. mikerowesoft

[Sharon]

VICTORIA - A Vancouver Island high school student who does Web site design part-time is locked in a legal battle with one of the biggest companies in the world.

Microsoft Corp. of Seattle, currently valued at $300 billion US, wants Mike Rowe to give up www.mikerowesoft.com as his Internet domain name. The company claims copyright infringement of its name.

Through its law firm in Canada, Microsoft has offered him $10 US -- what Rowe paid last August to register the domain.

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/story.asp?id=37261520-1B58-4E4F-B534-7077040C8071

 

[Ken King]

I would say that Microsoft needs to get real. They develop software and this kid (using his own legal name) is doing website development. I always thought that as a general rule, trademarks do not infringe one another if the underlying products or services of the two companies do not compete and are not distributed in the same trade channels.

Microsoft might be global but how can they claim this as an infringement as the boy has just incorporated his similar sounding name into what I would say is entrepreneurial genius.

 

[Sharon]

Originally posted by Ken King
boy has just incorporated his similar sounding name into what I would say is entrepreneurial genius.

Exactly

Plus all the free advertisement he's getting at Microsoft's expense.

 

[vraiblonde]

If he were a software designer, the name MikeRoweSoft would make more sense. And he even admits he was trying to hitchhike on the Microsoft name:

He thought it would be a "cool" name for his business since it had his name in it and "the same phonetic sound as the famous company Microsoft."

It would be hard to mistype Microsoft into MikeRoweSoft and get his website if you were trying to reach the MS one. Also, there would be no confusion that you reached the MS website, even if you inadvertently typed this kid's name instead of microsoft.com. This is what a lot of domain infringement cases are based on so I doubt MS will win. They're just being stupid.

But if they want to give him $10,000 to change his domain name to mikerowedesigns.com, take the money and run.

 

[TWL]

This brought up a memory form a few years ago. Uzi Nissan of Nissan Computer Corporation was sued by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd for domain infringement. At the time, Nissan Motor Co. was mostly known as Datsun.
Supporting documents.

Google Search

 

[jazz lady]

Microsoft Lightens Up on Teen's Mikerowesoft Site

TORONTO - Microsoft Corp. indicated on Tuesday it might have overreacted to the Web site of Canadian teenager Mike Rowe who had added the word "soft" to his name and registered the address mikerowesoft.com.

"We take our trademark seriously, but in this case maybe a little too seriously," Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said.

"We appreciate that Mike Rowe is a young entrepreneur who came up with a creative domain name, so we're currently in the process of resolving this matter in a way that will be fair to him and satisfy our obligations under trademark law," Desler said.

In November, Microsoft's Canadian lawyers demanded that Rowe, 17, change the name of his Internet site, claiming copyright infringement. They said they would pay Rowe, who lives in Victoria, British Columbia, $10 for his trouble.

But the high school student decided to fight back and his story got media attention to the extent that he was forced to shut down his Web site on Monday morning after getting about 250,000 hits. He managed to get the site back up after moving to a service provider with greater capacity.

"I never expected this type of feedback. I have put up a defense fund so that I can hire a lawyer to guide me through the process of talking to Microsoft.... I could never think this could happen, even in my wildest dreams," Rowe wrote on his site.

Rowe is demanding $10,000 from Microsoft to change the site's name.

Go, Mikey!

 

[sleuth]

from CNN.com


Microsoft to take over MikeRoweSoft.com
Teen settles with tech giant for, among other things, an Xbox
Monday, January 26, 2004 Posted: 10:18 AM EST (1518 GMT)

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A Canadian teenager whose Web site address bothered a certain giant software company will find a new home on the Web, Microsoft Corp. said Friday.

Mike Rowe, a 17-year-old resident of Victoria, British Columbia, has agreed to pick a new name for his Web site, currently called www.mikerowesoft.com, said Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler.

Mike's father, Kim Rowe, confirmed that his son had struck an agreement with Microsoft. Rowe said his son could not be interviewed Friday because he had to study for final exams.

Mike also is working feverishly to put together a new Web site, his father said.

Desler said Microsoft would cover Mike's costs of changing to a new Web site and redirecting traffic from the old site. Microsoft also had agreed to help the teen get Microsoft certification training and other gifts, including an Xbox game console, he said, and has invited Mike to a technology festival in March at the corporation's headquarters in suburban Redmond.

"We wanted to do this in a way that's going to foster his interest in technology," Desler said.

In a posting on his Web site earlier this month, the teen said he received a 25-page letter from Microsoft informing him he was committing copyright infringement, and threatening legal action.

Desler said Friday that Microsoft believes it's important to take steps to prevent widespread infringement of its name. But he conceded Microsoft's original approach was "admittedly maybe impersonal."