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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (13383)	3/5/1998 1:54:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

Palm Computing suing Microsoft in Europe New York Times - Posted at 7:00 p.m. PST Wednesday, March 4, 1998 In a lawsuit that raises new questions about Microsoft Corp.'s market power, Palm Computing Inc., a pioneering Silicon Valley maker of a hand-held electronic organizer called the Palm Pilot, is suing Microsoft in Europe, accusing it of trademark violations. The dispute arose as a result of Microsoft's decision late last year to enter the market for shirt-pocket-sized computers with a new version of its Windows CE operating system that it named the Palm PC. The new Microsoft-based machines borrow a number of the Palm Pilot's features and like the Palm Pilot, they will operate with a stylus. They are to be manufactured and distributed by a number of consumer electronics manufacturers. Palm Computing is a division of 3Com Corp. Microsoft has been widely criticized for its decision to adopt Palm as a name. Microsoft originally developed its Windows CE operating system for larger clam-shaped portable devices that came with a small keyboard. Analysts said sales of those products had generally been disappointing. Earlier this year at a reporters roundtable in San Jose, Calif., Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates angrily disputed suggestions that his company was intentionally confusing the market and stealing ideas from an innovator. He said the idea was ''beyond bizarre,'' that his company had ''zero market share'' in hand-held computing and that it had chosen the Palm PC name after doing original market research in which he was not involved. However, moments after Gates left the conference room, an assistant returned, saying she had come back to reclaim ''Bill's Palm Pilot,'' which he had accidentally left behind. Executives at Palm Computing said that they were including published accounts of the incident in their suit. ''We're worried customers are going to be confused,'' said Donna Dubinsky, a 3Com vice president and president of the Palm Computing division. ''I'm worried that someone is going to go into a store and say, 'I want that Palm thing my neighbor has.''' Ms. Dubinsky said that the company had filed suit against Microsoft in Germany on Monday and Wednesday in Italy, choosing Europe for reasons relating to trademark law. Palm Computing also filed suit against Casio Computer Corp., which is one of the makers of the Palm PC devices. The dispute came when Microsoft was defending itself against a suit brought by the Justice Department, which has accused it of abusing market power in violation of a 1995 consent decree. Water on moon, huh? Well sure, they had no outhouse there when I left. What do you expect? o~~~ O