Ruling clears way for Lindows trial

Comments

1. 
   24 May 2004 ~ 11:11pm Straight_Man This is something to watch-- Microsoft tried to get quashed this going to trial at upper levels of appelate court in US, and they failed. Weight and amount of prior precedent is incredibly important in US law decisions, as is why the precedents happened. I would say Microsoft will probably try to say that since they were acknowledged as owners for so long, that should offset the prior use, but the word has been in common use all that time also, as well as being used prior to Microsoft having a GUI O\S to sell to describe desirable GUI features.
   
   Zerox itself in fact could weigh in here, cast direct doubt on Microsoft's ownership of using just Window or Windows even as a GUI term. When an appelate court refuses to quash, it is beacuse the members of the appelate panel think the legal arguments NEED to be heard because both sides have some right on their side-- and it is an honoring of the earlier lower judge's core logic unless more weight can be brought to argue on other side.
   
   For those of you in the UK, also keep an eye on the EU's Universal Software Patent legislation introduction and how it progresses towards law and any legal fights that come out of that law's enforcement if it is adopted. Potentially THAT approach could be a worse legal happening for many people than the DMCA over here over the long term, depending on what happens in court afterwards.
2. 
   24 May 2004 ~ 11:18pm Jengo microsoft just needs to shut up already.... damn monopolized Companies....
   
   :O
3. 
   24 May 2004 ~ 11:29pm Straight_Man Well, Micheal Robertson has been in other legal fights, and won. He also has helped majorly run some enterprises that for a long time brought in decent money. In this case, he and his legal team might pull something off.
   
   OTOH, note that he DID change the O\S name, though due to what happened in European countries rather than in the US. He knows how to have fallbacks in place, how to play the legal game. I would say this is interesting, VERY interesting, to watch. Kinda like a very stubborn David against Goliath. To NOT defend this suit originally boraght by Microsoft against his firm would cast doubt on his O\S bundle offering. At base core, it started as Linux plus Wine.