Windows and Lindows

News excerpt from Infoworld:

A U.S. district said on Wednesday that, were the case to come before a jury, it would instruct the jury to consider whether "windows" was a generic term before Microsoft introduced software with that name in 1985. The court also cited an earlier case stating that, if a term is found to be generic, then it cannot be the subject of trademark protection, according to a copy of the ruling supplied by Lindows.com. It was made by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Lindows.com, in San Diego, California, described Tuesday's ruling as a major victory that will allow it to keep using the Lindows name indefinitely or until the final decision in the case is made. The ruling confirms that a company, no matter how wealthy, cannot buy a word out of the English language, Lindows.com counsel Daniel Harris said in a statement.


Lindows.com has been less fortunate in Europe, where judges in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands have sided with Microsoft and barred the San Diego, California-based company from using the Lindows name.

I guess, the Dutch do not have the word Windows in their language and hence it is trademarkable. As a matter of fact, the Dutch could trademark everyword in English lanuage within their countries and make some serious money. May be the Lindows group should change the name to Windows in Dutch (Raam, Venster?)