Goliath Vs Dhiren Rana.
JPR and all:
Microsoft Pays $5M for IE Name
Wired News Report
9:20am 2.Jul.98.PDT
Microsoft settled an embarrassing trademark lawsuit on Wednesday, agreeing to pay US$5 million for the right to continue calling its Web browser software "Internet Explorer."
On the second day of a civil jury trial in a Chicago federal courtroom, Microsoft reached a settlement with lawyers of SyNet, a defunct Illinois Internet service provider that claimed the right to the Internet Explorer trademark.
Microsoft (MSFT) had argued that Internet Explorer was not a brand name, but rather two words that describe a common computer function. The company argued that SyNet did not deserve trademark protection.
SyNet disagreed, arguing that it had been using the name since 1994. Dhiren Rana, the company's founder, claimed that the cost of trying to protect SyNet from Microsoft was part of the reason the company went into bankruptcy.
Under terms of the agreement, Microsoft will obtain SyNet's trademark rights to the name. If a jury had decided SyNet in fact had the right to the Internet Explorer name, Microsoft could have been forced to spend an estimated $30 million to remove the words from its software, packaging, and manuals.
Rana, a British immigrant, will not see any of the settlement money, which will go to lawyers and other creditors.
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