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Does Microsoft Have Nothing Better To Do? |
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 Early this morning we were going to just post a quickie news byte and link to an interesting article, but then we thought about it and realized that it's not news you come here for, it's the cutting insight and witty commentary that keep you coming back for more. Right? ... Right? <sound of crickets chirping>
Um... ok we'll assume that's a yes, and we'll proceed with our plan to give you late news but with that traditional 2 Guys spin.
So, moving forward...
The previously mentioned article, found at Ananova, tells of a 17 year-old Canadian student and freelance Web designer whose choice for a domain name has created a stir. The guy's name: Mike Rowe. The guy's chosen domain name for his Web site: www.MikeRoweSoft.com.
Oh those silly Canadians and their humour! Y'know, many of the greatest comedians hail from Canada. There's Jim Carey, Howie Mandel and Tom Green (ok greatness questionable there) along with SNL'ers like Phil Hartman, Norm McDonald, Mike Meyers and even Lorne Michaels, and heck the whole dang cast of Kids in the Hall. There's just something about living in Canada that makes you either develop a world-class sense of comedic timing or kill yourself. The same can pretty much be said of living in Buffalo.
But if you look up the word digress, there is a perfect example of it in the above paragraph. So, where were we?
Ah yes, we last left our hero, Mike Rowe, with a new domain name. Well it's now months since he registered www.MikeRoweSoft.com and now who comes knocking on his proverbial door? Nope, it's not the Hamburglar (robble robble), but good guess. Guess again? That's right! Microsoft!
It seems that young Mike got a letter from Microsoft's legal department stating that he was committing copyright infrigement against them with the MikeRoweSoft.com domain. Never mind the fact that it's spelled completely differently and no one would stumble upon the site by accident. Anyhow, Mike responded back by saying that he had a lot of time and effort invested in the domain (it's printed on business cards, clients and friends know where it, search sites have had time to index it, etc.) and asked for some type of settlement if they wanted him to give it up (what a smart 17 year-old: I was playing Sega and looking at way too much porn at that age).
So Microsoft offers him $10 US to cover his domain registration fees. Ten freakin' bucks. From a company that throws around hundreds of millions to settle cases out of court and sends Porsche's to Department of Justice officials as birthday presents. Ok, that Porsche thing it purely conjecture, but you didn't doubt it did you?
According to his Web site, Mark then counter-offers with $10,000 US, and Microsoft's lawyers subsequently send him "a book over an inch thick with a 25 page letter explaining to me that I had all along had the intention to sell my domain name to Microsoft for a large cash settlement". Which of course was never the case. Besides, domain-squatting is like so 90's, and it's not like he bought up 50 Microsoft-related names in the hopes of getting a settlement.
As for why Microsoft wants him to stop using the domain, we think the crux of the matter is that MS doesn't want any users of it's FrontPage Web design software to accidently visit MikeRoweSoft.com and think they can create pages anywhere near as good as Mike's site.
Anyhow, best of luck to Mike in this battle against tyranny! |
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January 19 2004, 8:11 PM EDT, by
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Comments:
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| sweetjimmyhugs |
1/19/04, 9:08 PM EDT |
I don't think M$ has any grounds for shutting this guy down. I don't think it would confuse anyone. Of course this leads me to believe that M$ has a very low opinion of their customers if they think that Mike's site would confuse them.
The bad news is this, as of right now Mike's site is offline. Maybe "Monopoly Bill" did get to him.
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| okcalla |
1/19/04, 10:06 PM EDT |
nope mikes site is still up! GO give be gracious to this cause! down with bill! WWW.mikerowesoft.com
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| iKen |
1/19/04, 10:29 PM EDT |
yeah, it's up, but it keeps going down because of all the traffic.
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| stickman67 |
1/20/04, 8:26 AM EDT |
Good thing I didn't put up the website I was thinking of. It's all about a pet I own -- my crow, Soft.
*Groan!*
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| Jonahan |
1/20/04, 10:58 AM EDT |
Ha! What about a blog by a guy who's in a college rowing club?
MikeRowsSoftly.com?
Surely MS can't have a leg to stand on with this sort of thing......can they???!?
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| Jonahan |
1/20/04, 11:03 AM EDT |
And y'know what's really funny is that is MS had left this guy alone, we would have probably never heard of the site.
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| Pete |
1/20/04, 12:52 PM EDT |
I would say they are hoping he'll fold because of the cost of fighting them off. They've got no leg to stand on. You don't trademark the sound of a name, but the name itself, AFIK. Clearly no sane person will be confused by his web site. Then of course he should file a counter suit for costs and damages etc. Essentially, Microsoft is betting he won't fight.
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| rlhamon |
1/20/04, 1:36 PM EDT |
i think that this may blow up in Microsoft's face. It would be a negative publicity towards MS win or loose .... well just more bad publicity towards them. It would of been in Microsoft's best interest to left this alone .... no one would of cared or got the domains mixed up.
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| Jedbeck |
1/20/04, 2:37 PM EDT |
Maybe is it is a site to find a cure for Mike Rowe's impotence?
;)
Geez the guy is just trying to lead a normal life til MS decides to exploit his problems to the world.
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| JT |
1/20/04, 4:57 PM EDT |
Yes, M$ did take it too seriously. Prepare to lose more face! (at this rate, the Phantom of the Opera should look at them and cringe in horror)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39119214,00.htm
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| stickman67 |
1/20/04, 6:09 PM EDT |
Do you think the management and publicity people at Microsoft have a straight face when they do this sort of thing?
Are they that out of touch with the real world?
Just had a thought. They sell Windows as a commercial product. Of *course* they're that out of touch with the real world ...
Fwahahahahahahaha! Fwahahaha ... *errrk!*
Dang! Just blew a cyst in m' trachea!
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| Realist |
1/20/04, 7:36 PM EDT |
Sorry, but Microsoft has to go after this guy, or will lose the benefits of its trademark. If they don't go after him, he could sell his business to (for instance) Corel, Adobe, Sun, or even Apple, and MS could do nothing to prevent use of the name. Apple would have done the same thing, as would any corporation that wants to protect its trademarks.
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| won |
1/20/04, 9:08 PM EDT |
Okay, fictional site. Somebody should register it though, just to see what happens. Somebody with at least a little money.
http://www.ahpull.com
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| stickman67 |
1/20/04, 9:40 PM EDT |
Dang realists ...
*Grumble, grumble, grumble!*
Anyway, seems while Microsoft isn't backing down, it's certainly backing away a little from its aggressive stance.
Check out this URL:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39119214,00.htm
The title of the article? "Microsoft: We took MikeRoweSoft too seriously".
Well, well, well. Three holes in the ground ...
But I digress.
Are you finished with those pickles?
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| okcalla |
1/20/04, 10:31 PM EDT |
everyone should go to the big news corporations fox cnn cnbc abc nbc tech tv and plead that they feature his case media attn always gets the big ones to crack. including the army. anyone hear about the soldier who got mad cow. fox got the gov. to crack i think they can handle microsoft... or is microsoft more powerfull than the gov't?
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| MacBuddy |
1/21/04, 1:53 AM EDT |
...is Microsoft more powerful than the gov't?
Uh. A twice convicted monopolist, that still retains all of its 'ill-gotten gains'. Has paid NO fines. No one is in jail. And yet again, continues to do what they promised they wouldn't.
Can Joe Public afford another victory against M$?
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| MacBuddy |
1/21/04, 2:01 AM EDT |
BTW, where do Canadians get web domain registry, web hosting space and a web connection for 10 bucks? I mean that's 15 Canadian, but still.
As soon as I find out about this fantastic $10 deal that Bill Gates can turn me on to, I'm dropping the $50/month rip-off I'm currently saddled with. (Shame on you Shaw, Verisign, WebAXXs!)
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| Laker26 |
1/21/04, 8:39 AM EDT |
You wouldn't think that the courts would support Microsoft, but years ago ABC sued an athletic shoe seller in Boston and won the suit. The store was named "The Agony of De Feet." ABC successfully claimed that the store name was an illegal use of their lead-in commentary to the Wide World of Sports series.
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| speedyrev |
1/21/04, 4:22 PM EDT |
It's simply a case of "My Lawyer's Bigger Than Your Lawyer."
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| sweetjimmyhugs |
1/21/04, 4:40 PM EDT |
The fact is you cannot register a sound as a trademark. You can copywrite words, you can trademark a logo or words, but you cannot trademark how it sounds. I think Pearl Jam would be pretty pissed if you could trademark a sound, seeing as how many bands sound like them and all.
M$ should just get this guy to sign a contract that states that he will not sell his domain to any other company other than M$ and then give him a car... or money or something. That way their 'trademark' is safe and Mike gets a car or something. Everyone is Happy.
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| rlhamon |
1/21/04, 4:55 PM EDT |
I though M$ would be pissy about this domain than anything www.microsucks.com
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