Microsoft considered its Windows brand infringed.
The case did not have to go to court. PDO
Microsoft certainly knows how important it is to stick to brands and defend them. For example, the company itself previously had to change the name of its SkyDrive cloud service to OneDrive as a result of such a brand dispute.
However, now the company itself was with the prosecutor’s ball. At Microsoft, it was considered that the Word Windows tool launched by a British woman, which helps dyslexic children to read, violated the company’s Windows trademark.
A native of Northhampton Kate McKenzie got the inspiration for his plastic Word Windows tool from his own child’s reading difficulties. McKenzie’s invention makes it easier to read words by showing only one or a few words at a time. Words can be read through a small adjustable window.
When McKenzie’s Word Windows trademark came to Microsoft’s attention, the company reacted immediately. Microsoft’s lawyers contacted the woman, accusing her of infringing the registered trademark.
Since McKenzie did not want to go to court to fight a mammoth like Microsoft, efforts were made to find a mutually satisfactory solution to the dispute.
One was found, and even relatively easily. Microsoft was content with McKenzie removing the last letter s from Windows. This was fine with McKenzie, and according to her, the dispute has been resolved.
McKenzie’s invention will be known as the Word Window in the future.