Lindows.com has won the first round in its legal trademark battle against Microsoft.

A Seattle court last week denied Microsoft's motion to stop Lindows.com from using this name for its company and LindowsOS for its new operating system. Worse, for Microsoft, the company may have shot itself in the foot by launching the action in the first place.

In his ruling Judge John C. Coughenour said: "Microsoft has raised serious questions about the validity of its trademark [Windows]."

This may deter Microsoft from further action - any appeal and it could risk having Windows explicitly stripped as a trademark. We shall see.

In the meantime Lindows.com is victorious, and it looks increasingly like our initial assessment of its chances of success were wrong. ®

Coughenour's ruling.