CompuWorld

Microsoft is in danger of losing its grip on Windows Vista. Well, in all fairness, the operating system's base code is a Microsoft intellectual property, but things are not so clear when it comes to the name of the company's latest Windows platform. Apparently Microsoft does not own the "Vista" name and trademark. A Frenchman, Philippe Gildas claims that he has all the rights on the "Vista" trademark and not Microsoft. Therefore the Redmond Company should abandon using Vista as reference to its operating system.

Gildas revealed that he had registered the Vista trademark four years before Microsoft launched the operating system to the general public. The Frenchman plans to open a media outlet for the elderly under the Vista brand.

"I deposited the mark with the autumn 2003 in all the fields of the intellectual property of ‘entertainment’, and of the media: out of press, in TV, on the Web, etc Indeed, my chain ‘Vista’, that I launch on CanalSat and all the câblo-operators on November 15, is not a project left the hat," Gildas explained as cited by PC Inpact. "One had already tried the blow four years ago. That loupé because we were not ready, but we had deposited the name"

It is hard to believe that after spending in excess of $500 million on the Windows Vista Wow marketing campaign and associating the three terms for the consumers, Microsoft will just roll over and play nice. Far from it in fact. The Redmond Company will look to silence Gildas as soon as possible, and it will go to court if necessary. Essentially, by the time Gildas could win an intellectual property infringement lawsuit against Microsoft for the use of the Vista trademark, the operating system could already be out of commission.

Gildas is not shy about threatening Microsoft with lawsuit, because the global launch of Windows Vista has interfered with his plans of opening the Vista TV channel. Microsoft has a similar precedent of the Forefront brand and the Redmond Company has failed to indicate signs of amiable settlement on behalf of the plaintiff. And of course that Microsoft can also argue that the operating system is labelled Windows Vista, and as such, trademark infringement would be harder to prove.

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