Anyway, a 17yr old kid by the name of Mike Rowe opens up a webdesigning company and names it MikeRoweSoft (say it out loud..if you're really daft not to get it just be reading it)..then registers mikerowesoft.com...a couple of days later he gets an email from microsoft's lawyers to hand over the domain for 10$...he refuses and says no way, how about 10,000? a couple of days later he gets a legal document of around 25 pages from the lawyers!! They are going after him extortion!!
Read the whole thing at mikerowesoft.com its pretty amusing, gives a totally new meaning to scumbags, sons of bitches and cheap bastards...oops, hope i dont get sued for saying that.
Another case of hearing only one side of the story. The following was posted in the forums at mikerowesoft.com (now removed, unsurprisingly)...
"I listened to your interview on CBC radio. You said, on live radio, that you did choose the domain name because of Microsoft's public profile. Then, less than a minute later, you claimed to have been surprised that Microsoft was suing you. But, you had admitted everything in the first minute of your interview. Then, you went on to say that you didn't expect you would be able to keep the domain. This sounds suspicious and I think Microsoft has every right to say that you were looking for a pay off at a later date -- not to mention, the publicity."
His case fell apart the moment he admitted that that was the reason he chose that domain name. I see now that he has settled with MS which is a shame because I think he should be made an example of. MS are only doing this to save their public face.
As for the argument that he's only 17, what the hell does that matter? His motivation was clearly to cash in on either the similarity or the publicity from the action MS would take. The lucky fscker got the latter.
-- Stuart
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