EU Throws out Microsoft's Vista Font Trademark

vitaly.friedman writes "Microsoft has lost another round at the EU though this time it has nothing to do with the antitrust case. This time the dispute is over fonts; specifically Segoe, one of the typefaces Microsoft wants to use in Vista. Microsoft filed its "registered community design" for the font back in January of 2004, paid the required fee, and everything was great until December." A copy of the decision is also available.

Quick!

[MS_Word]

Someone patent losing court cases!

Re:Quick!

[50m31sl4sh.]

Someone patent losing court cases!

Whoever dares to do so risks putting himself into infinite loop.

Woo-hoo!

[Java Ape]

It takes some serious chutzpah to steal a font outright and then try to get legal protection of "your" work. And they'd have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddeling judges. Microsoft's arguments were pathetic -- they've obviously gotten used to bought-and-paid-for system in the U.S. (*SIGH*).

Next week I think I'll register a few new fonts:

• Messenger: Looks a lot like Courier
• Verbatim: Somewhat resembles Verdana
• Times Ripoff: Amazing similar to Times New Roman

You know, font development isn't easy -- it's much harder than it first appears to build a font that is attractive, easily readable, and infinitely scalable. Using Microsoft's new font-development technique, even a yutz like me can produce attractive fonts in minutes. Maybe Microsoft should patent the technique of "stealing from others" -- they've used it enough they might be able to get trademark protection on it as well.

Re:So . . .

[Rob T Firefly]

Sure you can! Just so long as you don't hang it too near near my masterpiece sculpture of "Thinking Guy," not to be confused with Rodin's "The Thinker, which has much shorter sideburns.

{pffftwh}

[tinkertim]

There, that is my fart. It is unique, can't be copied and I'd like to trademark it please. Like everything else that is published on the internet, I'm going to throw a big fat copyright on it so nobody can steal it. Don't you dare fart like I just did, that is my intellectual property and trademark!

I illustrated my point with a fart to signify that the I.T world is rapidly becoming a very smelly place to conduct business. Small companies follow the examples of larger successful companies and paranoia is highly contageous - beginning to show. How many non disclosure agreements have YOU signed this month?

I can't believe they tried to patent something so .. idiotic in the first place. Can they for once, just ONCE produce something quietly, release it and sell it like everyone else does?

If MS was truly concerned about covering their ass they would write more secure operating systems. They don't do that, they patent everything they possibly can to try to squeeze every last cent out of the junk they produce and have turned suing small companies into a cottage industry over stupid technicalities. This was aimed to get their 'digs' into the EU so they could snuff out anyone who stole the font they already stole.

Will each Vista PC come with an attached penis that pops out of the top and urinates "BILL WAS HERE" on your wall? If they hope to keep *any* of the market share they've enjoyed gouging over the past decades they need to do a complete about face and focus on serving the needs of their customers.

I wish I could make neat cartoons in flash. I see willy wonka's chocolate factory making fonts as secret as the ever-lasting-gob-stopper for Microsoft.

Mr Gates, You have my permission to use my newly patented {pffftwh} to blow your HEAD out of your ASS so you can actually RELEASE something useful.

Re:Penny wise, pound foolish

[Lars T.]

They didn't steal, they inovated new names.