Posts by Tim Acheson

Google, antitrust, and the 'Copygate' hypocrisy

Google is leading in immitation, not innovation

Copying other people's ideas and attacking the original innovators has become a central theme in Google's business model:-

http://bit.ly/fpR6dh

Design firm sues Microsoft over Bing trademark

This lawsuit cannot be taken seriously

I sympathise with the plaintiff. I tend to side with the underdog. This is a small company in a dispute with a big company.

But this lawsuit can't be taken seriously. It's only become newsworthy because the anti-MS networks carry stories like this so effectively.

Spot the difference:

“Bing search”

“Bing Information Design”

Of course, nobody would confuse a search engine called "Bing" with a small design company called "Bing Information Design". If this small company wanted to use the name "Bing" they could have trademarked that, but of course they did not. I notice that their portfolio includes web apps powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth, a service provided for free by MS, so they’re actually getting a pretty good deal from the company they’re suing. There are some good artists working at Bing Information Design, in fact some of their illustrations look intriguingly like Google recent logo designs.

I wonder who is sponsoring the plaintiff, or bankrolling the lawsuit -- the men in black from Google/Apple, perhaps? It's great PR for the small company, and great negative marketing for Microsoft's competitors. But this is type of gratuitous opportunistic law suit gives the legal system a bad name.