Microsoft has asked a Netherlands court to fine
Lindows.com €100,000 a day for allowing its website to be accessed
by visitors in the Benelux countries, where it won a trademark
ruling against Lindows.
Lindows complained that Microsoft's move comes after it had
already withdrawn all of its products from Belgium, the Netherlands
and Luxembourg, and posted notices on its websites that it would
not be selling products to customers in those countries pending an
appeal of the court order against it.
Representatives for Microsoft in Europe were not immediately
available to comment on the alleged request.
In January a Dutch judge barred the use of the Lindows name in
Benelux after Microsoft filed suit, charging that the name
infringed upon its Windows trademark. Microsoft had earlier won
preliminary injunctions in Finland and Sweden.
Lindows said Microsoft is now raising the stakes in its legal
battle by asking a judge to fine it for allowing visitors in the
Benelux countries to access its US Lindows.com site.
The company added that it would be impossible to block Benelux
visitors since its website is accessed via international internet
service providers, proxy servers and other methods that cloak a
visitor's actual location.
While Lindows is protesting the fines, the company seems to have
backed down from its original stance following Microsoft's win in
the Netherlands. Shortly after the ruling, the company legally
changed its name in several European countries to Lin---s
(pronounced Lindash) and set up a Lin---s.com website specifically
for customers in the Benelux countries and Sweden. (The company
said at the time that Finnish visitors were not legally barred from
buying from Lindows.com.)
However, there are now notices at the top of both the Lin---s
site and Lindows.com site saying that visitors from Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg are not allowed to access the sites or
purchase its products pending an appeal. A hearing date for the
company's appeal of the Dutch order has been set for 30 March.
However, on Friday Lindows received copies of papers filed in
the Dutch court, requesting the €100,000 a day fine.
Lindows chief executive officer Michael Robertson said the move
was not related to protecting Microsoft's trademark in the region,
but an attempt to put Lindows out of business.
Microsoft originally sued Lindows in December 2001, claiming
that the similarity between the Windows and Lindows names would
confuse consumers. Lindows sells an open-source operating system
called the LindowsOS, both from its website and through retail
channels, bundled with low-cost PCs.
Microsoft has filed complaints against the company in the US,
Canada and Europe. A US trial of the case was postponed ast month,
pending an appeal of a court decision that favoured Lindows.
Scarlet Pruitt writes for IDG News
Service