From ZDNet UK:
Microsoft is threatening teenage software writer Mike Rowe with legal action for registering and using the domain name mikerowesoft.com.Microsoft has set its lawyers onto a 17-year-old software writer from Vancouver, called Mike Rowe, because he has registered MikeRoweSoft.com, which the company said infringes on its copyright.
Come on, the guy's name really is Mike Rowe. Does Microsoft really need this kind of negative PR?
Update: Okay, this is what Microsoft should have done. They should have told the guy, "Look, we think what you've done is funny, but we have no choice about defending our trademark. But we want to make this painless, so let us pay you your costs and a little bit extra. Say, do you have an X-Box? How many would you like?" This might have played a little better.
Update 2: That's better:
"We do take our trademark seriously but maybe in this case a little too seriously," said Jim Desler, of Microsoft's corporate communications department at head office in Redmond, Wash.Mr. Desler said the company recognizes the spirit in which the young entrepreneur had registered the domain name and was reconsidering its earlier legal moves.
The corporation wanted to resolve the matter soon, he said, and is willing to "circle back" on the issue.
No, they don't and the guy really has a valid claim to the name since it's his own name. They should lay off.
The interviewed this kid on the new VR the other night. He was hoping they'd give him, say, $10K for the years he has invested in the web business bearing his name, but he knows the name is going to ruffle some feathers. He showed a 200 page legal brief they sent him along with an offer to buy the rights to the name for 10 whole dollars.
Enough to make you switch, eh?
Unfortunately, trademark owners must "actively defend" their trademarks whenever possible, or risk losing them to the public domain.
Xerox and Kleenex must protest when anyone uses their brand names to describe generic copiers and tissues, or they risk losing their trademarks. Google got into this recently as well, because people are using "Google" as a verb to describe Internet searching, even searching using another search tool.
If Mike Rowe had called his brand "Mike Rowe Software" Microsoft might have left him alone. When he went with the name "MikeRoweSoft," he sealed his fate. It's a cute name because it reminds people of "Microsoft." However, the MS lawyers had to go after him precisely for that reason -- the name reminds people of Microsoft.
Recommended reading:
http://www.fool.com/portfolios/rulemaker/2000/rulemaker000501.htm
Sandy
Did Sandy just defend Microsoft?
Legally, I know you're right. Still, Microsoft could have handled things with a bit more humor, and they could have probably offered a little more than $10.