Microsoft wants WindowsXP.nu domain from hobbyist

IDG News Service - A Dutch computer enthusiast who runs a popular Windows XP gossip Web site has been summoned by Microsoft Corp. to hand over the WindowsXP.nu domain name.
Steven Bink registered WindowsXP.nu two years ago. The site has become an important spot for Microsoft beta testers and hobbyists looking for news and gossip about Microsoft products, logging up to 20,000 page views per day, said Bink.
Yesterday, Bink received a letter from Microsoft's Dutch counsel accusing him of trademark infringement and giving him until Dec. 19 to sign over the domain or face possible legal action. Microsoft has registered Windows as a trademark in the Netherlands and other countries.
"[Bink] may of course write about Windows XP, but not on a Web site with a domain name that is identical to Microsoft's brand," said Alfred Meijboom, a partner at Kennedy Van der Laan, the law firm hired by Microsoft.
Bink, a 32-year-old owner of an IT services company, is baffled that Microsoft has come knocking two years after he started the site, but he said he won't fight the software maker.
"It's strange that Microsoft comes calling now with the fact that Windows is their brand. I want to see if there is room to negotiate, but I don't have any illusions about going to court," he said.
Microsoft seems to be cracking down on trademark infringement. The company has also asked several small European software makers to rename products that had "Windows" in their names. The makers of Windows Spy and Windows Backup Wizard, for example, have received letters from Microsoft lawyers.
In the U.S., Microsoft filed suit against San Diego-based Lindows.com Inc. last December (see story). Two rulings denied Microsoft's requests to bar Lindows from using its company name and the name LindowsOS (see story). The case is currently awaiting a judge's ruling in a U.S. District Court in Seattle, according to the Lindows Web site.
Meijboom denied that Microsoft has launched a campaign against trademark infringers, saying that the law firm is not sending around letters or subpoenas for Microsoft. "There is no offensive from the side of Microsoft," he said.
Maarten Reijnders of WebWereld Netherlands contributed to this report.