Ok I have a website called Windoze Consulting (domains windozeconsulting.info and windowsconsulting.info) I just received a letter from SeedIP (probably representing Microsoft) asking me to "discontinue use of the Windozeconsulting.info and Windowsconsulting.info domain names, and select and alternate trade name and domain name". They also what me to remove part of my logo.

Use of "Windoze Consulting" as your trade name and logo, as seen, for example, on your website home page. "Windoze" is confusingly to and conflicts with Microsoft's Windows trademark.

Use of a four-pane window logo adjacent our use of "Windoze", which further suggests an association wiht Microsoft's Windows products and trademarks.

Use of the domain name www.windozeconsulting.info to direct traffic to your website. This is problematic because the www.windowsconsulting.info domain name includes our clients Windows mark.

The business is a primarily a hosting business. The logo is probably to close to MS's logo. I was wondering if anyone has experience this? Just looking for some advice not trouble.

Jeff

You should email the guy behind www.mikerowesoft.com and ask him about his successes in this field.

Nothing quite like MS being a little overzealous. I can't believe too many people went looking for their website and instead came across your domains, confusing them with the official Microsoft site.

I would definitely consult with a good patent/copyright/trademark attorney.

I'm expecting in the near future to have to pay a licence fee to have holes in my walls to look out of. Luckily we only have a few Windows (tm) in the house and most of the openings are sliding glass doors...

the typeface looks similar to what MS uses, and the two boxes are suggestive of the 4 pane thing. the name and logo together make it look almost more like a spoof or parody site than a legitimate business. personally i would change it, as (imo) windozeconsulting is not that great of a name to begin with and it's really not worth the hassle.

I mean sure, they will get you and you are skr3wed. You have no hope of getting away now that they have latched on. It is really stupid tho, but just continues to show how panicked and insecure MS is about themselves...

mikerowsoft as I remember it settled out of court and got some nice items and a good tour of microsoft building somewhere. I would get a lawyer and see what all you can do, and try to settle out of court. while you might be in your rigts tehy have a lot more money then you and can hold off the court lang enough for it to get too expensive for you. Again, try to get them to give you somehthing for not using windozewhatever.info. But I think the windows one is out of your control cause they have the trademark (you might be able to get something out of not using it any more too tho.)

Tell them to do their damndest and fight like a tiger for your rights. How can Windoze conflict with Windows is beyond me, unless somebody exceptionally stupid is behind the keyboard.

I suppose the next thing Microsoft will do is to ask all people to rename the (physical) windows in their houses to "ventilators" so that it does not conflict with their trademark.

My blood boils at their over-proprietorial attitude.

"Light exchange medium" is kind of catchy.

I don't believe MS has a patent or trademark on the typeface or boxes. Whether it's a spoof or legitmate business doesn't matter. I'm just looking for reactions and maybe some advice. Luck has it for me I have lawyers in the family and I guess I'll be consulting them to see if it worth the trouble. Thanks and I'll keep checking the post.

Jeff

MS can't have a patent on a fairly standard san serif font. And it can't patent the word windows as they have been around quite a bit longer than MS has. So even the use of the word windows is fine... But the US legal system is so warped and run on who has the money that you don't have a lot of hope anyway. MS does what they want and squishes who they want. And nobody has been able to stop them. They ignore the court rulings against them now...

Hey! I just found a loop hole! Yup! Micro$oft can't sue me over my apartment windows! None of them have a registry! YAY!

i guess the font is trebuchet? maybe that's what made me associate it with MS.

it does matter if it's a spoof, because parody is protected speech under copyright law. the other point i was making is that if i were looking for services and came across your site thinking it was a spoof, i might go somewhere else before having a chance to look into it more. if i thought you might be likely to have legal troubles with microsoft i might go somewhere else, too.

my comments were designed mostly to be practical, not idealistic ("fight them to the death," etc.) imo it's just not worth the time and effort if i were trying to start a business. but maybe a good lawyer could get something out of MS over it and would tell you different. you should probably consult one if you are interested in keeping the name. gl

Frankly, I think it's that attitude:

"It's not worth fighting for"

that has destroyed so many competitiors to Microsoft. More individuals and companies (if they have the resources to do so) need to stand up and challenge Microsoft.

It's better than giving up tamely without a fight.

I didn't think that. I thought it looked like a legit consulting company that dealt with windows... Considering it's a hosting business, then maybe that's not exactly the reaction you want either. I did not think it looked like a spoof site as they tend to actually LOOK like a windws site whereas this did not... Tho if you look close at the Windoze spelling I suppose you could get that idea...