MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-07-19 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir Secretary NYLXS
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] MS Trademark on Windows caused a settlement in favor of Lindows
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Lindows settles legal row with Microsoft
By Richard Waters in San Francisco
Published: July 20 2004 0:53 | Last Updated: July 20 2004 0:53
Michael Robertson, the former head of renegade online music service MP3.com, on Monday paved the way for a second controversial initial public offering on Wall Street after reaching a $20m settlement of a legal dispute with Microsoft.
Mr Robertson had been locked in battle with the software group for more than two years over Microsoft's claims that the name of his latest company, Lindows, infringed the trademark of its Windows operating system.
Lindows plans to sell $44m worth of shares, valuing the company at $207m.
Lindows distributes a version of the Linux open-source operating system that is designed to run on personal computers, making it a thorn in the side of Microsoft's biggest business.
For its part, Lindows had claimed that "windows" was already established as a generic name for the way software was presented on a computer screen before Microsoft launched its own product under that name.
In a deal that lets Microsoft avoid the risk of its Windows trademark being overturned in court, the software giant has agreed to pay $20m to buy Lindows' internet domain names. Lindows said it would change its name to Linspire - a name it had already adopted in a number of countries outside the US to escape other legal challenges from Microsoft.
Mr Robertson's willingness to risk accusations of playing fast-and-loose with legal rights was already well established in the heyday of MP3.com. The online music service attracted a legal barrage from the recording industry and music publishers over a plan that would have let customers stream music over the internet without paying the music industry for additional rights.
MP3's IPO, in 1999, had been one of the most spectacular of the dotcom boom, valuing the company, which had less than $1m of revenue in the quarter before it listed its shares, at more than $4bn at the close of its first day of trading. The company was bought by Vivendi Universal in 2001 for $372m.
Lindows had losses of $1.5m on revenues of just $1m in its most recent quarter.
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