Lindows asks US court to halt MS ‘worldwide assault’

Jurisdiction hopping

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 16th March 2004 13:51 GMT

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Lindows has asked the US District Court in the Western district of Washington to stop Microsoft filing trademark lawsuits against it in other countries

Microsoft has tried, and failed, so far, to get lindows.com shut down through the US courts. It has now started filing similar suits in courts across the world and has hit paydirt in the Netherlands. Lindows last week withdrew its software from the Benelux countries, in response to Microsoft's legal action.

Lindows said: "Dissatisfied with this Court's denial of its motion for preliminary injunction two years ago, Microsoft is now forum shopping on a global scale for a court willing to enter such an order.
"While repeatedly pushing to delay the trial here, Microsoft, from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, started a secret foreign litigation campaign with two ex parte complaints in Finland and Sweden."

Microsoft has filed lawsuits in Finland, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Canada. Lindows wants the court to stop all such actions until after the US case is heard. It says that such legal actions are "vexatious or oppressive" and "would result in delay".

You can read the Lindows press release and download its court filing here. ®