Microsoft had argued that it had invested some $1.2 billion in building up the brandname 'Windows' and that the word had now become synonymous with the PC operating system.

However, Judge Coughenour ruled that once a word is generic it is always generic and therefore cannot be registered as a trademark. The judge also ruled that 'genericness' could not be decided on how the word is understood today, but what it meant when first shipped Windows 1.0 in 1985.

Lindows had already prepared its defence that the word 'windows' was already being used extensively by companies that used mouse driven graphical user interfaces prior to the 1985 launch. In fact, Lindows says, the use of the word 'window' to designate a part of a display which can be viewed and used independently, is part of the reason Microsoft chose the word.

Microsoft has ten days in which to lodge an appeal of these judgements before the full hearing of the case. The lawsuit was brought by Microsoft which alleges that 'Lindows' is doing irreparable harm to its business by infringing its trademark

Lindows CEO Michael Robertson said 'Microsoft's appeal is a delay tactic to avoid a trial in the U.S. and allow them more time to pile on lawsuits in other countries to harass us and our partners. Microsoft does not want to go to trial because they have a list of the evidence we are going to present (you are required to turn it over to them in advance) and they know it is powerful. Instead, they'd rather delay the trial and send letters to our partners around the world threatening more lawsuits.'

Microsoft was unable to give a response at the time of writing.

Steve Malone