Hi All, I don't know if this was previously posted on the list. If it was, I apologize. My brother is on the Lindows mailing list and forwarded this to me. Please read the last paragraph, I thought some of you guys may be able to help out or know someone who can. Thanks, Peter >Read the last paragraph and spread the word. It's a worthy cause against >the evil empire. > >>Microsoft Corp. v. Lindows.com Update >> >> >> >>Some of you have sent me email asking for an update on the battle with >>Microsoft and wanting to know how you can help. In case you missed it, >>Microsoft sued to shut down Lindows.com earlier >>in the year. It was a transparent attempt to stifle the inevitable >>competition which Linux represents. Their allegation was (and is) that >>they own the trademark for the word "windows," maintaining that no other >>company should be allowed to use the word “windows” -- not even the >>"indows" portion. >> >> >> >>Of course, there are hundreds of products and companies that use the word >>"windows" – and Microsoft has never filed suit against any of them. >>That’s a huge clue that this suit has little to do with trademark >>confusion. (If you missed any part of the proceedings to date, visit >>http://www.lindows.com/opposition to >>read the court papers and summaries.) >> >> >> >>Many people have congratulated us, prematurely, on our victory. While the >>judicial system did block their request to shut us down, a trial is >>looming for April 2003. At that time, the Judge (or jury) will decide >>whether Microsoft has a valid trademark for the word "windows" and >>whether the Lindows.com name is confusing. In >>the interim, we're moving through the legal process where Microsoft is >>demanding, as part of the discovery process, everything from our business >>plan to our list of partner companies. As you can imagine, it's >>challenging for a 39-person company to compete with a Goliath that has >>hundreds of people--just in the legal department alone. This is where we >>could use a bit of help from our community of >>Insiders and those on our mailing list. >> >> >> >>While Microsoft can outspend us with high-priced lawyers and experts, >>they cannot buy history. We know, of course, that the word "windows" had >>been used in the industry for years before Microsoft adopted it in the >>early 1980s for the name of its windowing interface product, Microsoft >>Windows 1.0. We could, however, use your help in gathering as much >>evidence as possible to show the usage of the words "windows", "window" >>and "windowing" before and after 1983, the date Microsoft first filed its >>trademark application. If you have magazine or newspaper articles, >>academic papers, journal articles, product manuals, advertisements, >>textbooks, dictionaries, or anything else that uses the terms, we'd like >>to hear from you. We'd also like to hear from anyone who had personal >>experience in the industry during those early years and can recall the >>history of the early windowing products such as Xerox's Star, VisiCorp's >>VisiOn, Apple's Lisa, Digital Research's GEM, Quarterdeck's DesQ, IBM's >>TopView, and others. Please email all your findings to >>legal@lindows.com. >> >> >> >>As always, thanks for all your help. >> >>Michael Robertson