Microsoft pays to end Lindows suits
Found on News.com on Sunday, 18 July 2004
Microsoft will pay upstart Linux seller Lindows $20 million to settle a long-running trademark dispute, according to a regulatory document filed Monday.
In exchange for the payment, Lindows--which recently renamed most of its products "Linspire" to work around European trademark suits--will give up the Lindows name and assign related Web domains to Microsoft, according to the registration statement Lindows filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tom Burt, vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in the statement that agreement meets Microsoft's goals for protecting the Windows name. "We are pleased that Lindows will now compete in the marketplace with a name distinctly its own," he said.
I doubt that MS would have paid a single cent if they would have expected a court ruling in their favor. Looks like their lawyers told them to aim for a more MS like solution: money. After all, it's a good starting capital for Linspire (the OS formerly known as Lindows).