Microsoft Takes on Teen Over Web Site

[Hachiko]

This is a laughingstock of a story, IMHO. I can't believe Microsoft would go this low to do something like this. Gimme a break...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Mike Rowe thinks it's funny that his catchy name for a Web site design company sounds a lot like Microsoft.

The software giant, however, is not amused.

"Since my name is Mike Rowe, I thought it would be funny to add 'soft' to the end of it," said Rowe, a 17-year-old computer geek and Grade 12 student in Victoria, British Columbia.

Yahoo! News

 

[CryogeniC]

Wonder wat the settlement will be like... I can understand Microsoft's overprotectiveness but tis is a little too far...

 

[Old School]

Nothing compared to the dogs of McGarbage. They had Webster's take the term "McJob" out of the dictionary.

 

[Glenn]

Originally posted by Old School
Nothing compared to the dogs of McGarbage. They had Webster's take the term "McJob" out of the dictionary.

Did they actually succeed in doing so? I had heard that they were taking legal actions against Mirriam-Webster, but I thought that the case was seen as frivolous and thrown out. By the way, I agree with you about "McGarbage." I try my best never to eat there, sometimes resulting in near-fights with people when we have to decide where to eat.

 

[Erik]

Yeah, the kid lives in Victoria, close to vancouver. I don't think he'll win this because he said he registered the domain because it was funny... also, he wants microsoft to pay $10,000+ to buy his domain...but, you never know... he may win. It was in every major paper here in Vancouver... kinda a mixed opinion over it so far.

 

[jeisan]

well yeah it is funny, but then again its his real name. just because someone puts "soft" after their name it shouldnt be that big of a deal, homophone or not. he has every right to charge them whatever he wants for that domain. $10 is a slap in the face. the kid who had beer.com sold the name for like $250,000 or whatever. and its not like microsoft is short on money or anything. bill gates makes more than $250,000 an hour. if i was steve jobs id buy it for $25000 just to piss off bill gates.

 

[Erik]

I think the problem is that he is starting up a psuedo-company. If he wants to register mikerowesoft as a company name, he needs to fill out the paperwork with the CDN government. He can start up a company called Mike Rowe without registering with the government, but any other variation, he may be SOL then.

 

[Erik]

Here's the outcome...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/26/mikerowesoft.settle.ap/index.html