yowkee essential

Last week, Anti-Malware Engineering Team at Microsoft announced that they have figured out a name Windows Defender as the the final product for their anti-malware product, that current known as Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware and released as a beta version.

On the path of this rebranding from AntiSpyware to Defender, the army of Microsoft lawyer team has done their job on clearing any legal obstacle. Adam Lyttle, a 22-year-old developer from Australia, who developed a program under same name which prevent any website changed your PC setting un-noticely, was contacted by the lawyer that his product was infringing on the Windows trademark. He signed the agreement after thought and returned. Two weeks later, he learned that the product name he was ever used, was now a official brand name of the AntiSpyware Beta.

From this article New name flap for Microsoft — but this time its legal right is clear

Lyttle received no money under the agreement, and he said in an interview Monday that he would have given the name to Microsoft just the same had he known the company wanted to use it. But he said he would have preferred the company to have been more straightforward.

and

If Lyttle had asked whether Microsoft planned to use the name, the law firm would have been obligated to refrain from deceiving him, said intellectual-property lawyer Thomas Hoffmann, a lawyer with DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary in Seattle. Otherwise, Microsoft and its lawyers were under no legal or ethical obligation to volunteer the information.

Well, lawyer has their way of doing thing and it’s their job to ensure the clearance of any possible legal threat anyway. From their point of view, not everyone would be so kind like Adam when it come to money. But sure that it isn’t that comfortable if you at Adam’s position — wondering if himself has fallen into any kind of set up.

A buiness lesson to learn.