RSSMicrosoft Sued Over 'Forefront' Name
By Ed Oswald | Published September 15, 2006, 3:39 PM
A Seattle-based developer of construction software sued Microsoft in U.S. District Court in Seattle Friday, claiming the Redmond company's use of the 'Forefront' brand would confuse its customers. Dexter + Chaney has been using the mark since 1988, and has asked the court for an injunction against Microsoft.
At TechEd in June, Microsoft introduced the Forefront brand for its line of security products, which was formerly known as Microsoft Client Protection. At the core of Forefront will be Client Security, along with Microsoft's new Antigen lineup.
Dexter + Chaney claims that its prospective and current customers would be confused by the identical branding, even though the two software products are not even remotely similar. The injunction asks the court to ban Microsoft from using the name on any software product line.
"Construction companies throughout the United States know and respect the 'Forefront' name," Dexter + Chaney vice president of sales and marketing Brad Matthews said.
The Forefront software application handles management, service management, construction accounting and other functions at construction sites, and is used by some 1,000 companies across the United States, the company said.
Dexter + Chaney said it asked Microsoft to not use the name, but the Redmond company declined the request. The company has owned trademark rights to the name for 18 years, according to a statement.
"A quick Google search reveals that Forefront is a term used by many companies: ForeFront Records, Forefront Church, Bell Microproducts (which has Forefront.com), Forefront Cirriculum and Forefront Television Products, among many, many others. Qualifying that I'm no lawyer, Forefont is widely used in company names," remarked Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox.
"That said, Forefront Construction Suite is a 25-year old product, is software and appears to carry a trademark for Forefront. These are not trivial factors in evaluating the merits of any possible court case." Microsoft spokesperson Jack Evans told BetaNews, "As a trademark owner, Microsoft understands the value and importance of trademarks and makes every effort to respect the legitimate trademark rights of others. For that reason, we carefully review names for our new products and consider the possible use of those names by other companies to avoid any conflict." "In this instance, we believe the specific use of the name Microsoft Forefront will not cause any confusion in the marketplace since the products and the channels of trade for them are significantly different. Microsoft’s product is a back-end, server-based security product while Dexter & Chaney’s product is a client-based software product intended specifically for managing construction projects,” Evans added.
I remember Microsoft forcing "Windows Commander" to drop its name after years of usage and a well established brand. So why won't Forefront (a software development company with a registered trademark) want to stop other SOFTWARE companies from using its trademark when they didn't even release products yet?
Ghisler complied quickly to Microsoft request, but now Microsoft denied Dexter + Chaney previous request?! No wonder it ended in the court.
And to Ed Oswald, you should really remove those other companies references as they confuse people. You're making appear like they (Dexter + Chaney) should have sued other people but it has nothing to do as they are not software developers.
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No where do I see anything about them asking for money, only to stop the use of the name. The software may be totally different, and forefront may suck, but the point is, its like opening a chicken store called McDonalds. Sure, they look different, and noone would mistake the two, but it would still be a violation and McDonalds would be all over them. Now if it was an electronics store called McDonalds, then there would be no case. Same thing holds true here. Suck or no suck, Forefront has a good case. How many times has MS put a stop to sites and products down these same lines?
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"A quick Google search reveals that Forefront is a term used by many companies: ForeFront Records, Forefront Church, Bell Microproducts (which has Forefront.com), Forefront Cirriculum and Forefront Television Products, among many, many others. Qualifying that I'm no lawyer, Forefont is widely used in company names," remarked Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox
None of the above listed uses of forefront are software related, and since ForeFront is a software suite and the microsoft product is a software suite, the trademark complain is a valid one. They are'nt suing MS for money as the esteemed PC Rat complains, they are just asking the courts for an injunction to prevent Microsoft from using the name. :) I support ForeFront in this action simply because they DO have a valid arguement. Hell, if MS can prevent the use of lindows even though anyone who viewed both windows and lindows could clearly tell the difference, then ForeFront should be able to prevent ms from using Forefront.
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But MS shouldn't have been able to prevent lindows, so the example is crap.
As you said, anyone looking at the two products would not be the least bit confused. This is what should be looked at, not how close the names are.
Since the names are exactly the same here....it's more complicated. If the owners of the original 'Forefront" decided to start-up a software company /suite of products based on the name, MS using it could potentially case problems.
The example sucked, but you bring up a valid point. I'll have to scratch my comment below. You are correct, MS should not be allowed to use that name.
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"The example sucked, but you bring up a valid point. I'll have to scratch my comment below. You are correct, MS should not be allowed to use that name."
Just for the record--this is the first time ever that I have seen someone actually change their mind on Betanews forums based on comments from other users.
This is a day to remember.
This also shows that we do have at least one person who is actually being objective in their comments :)
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...
Only way to make money anymore
is to sue Microsoft.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
"Share a file /
Get deported
to France !"
...
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Only the idiots in the US government believe you can trademark a common name, like windows or forefront.
Think I'll apply to trademark the word the and spend the rest of my days suing everyone who uses it.
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This is such a nonsense filed by ForeFront, losers!
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So will ForeFront Records, Inc. also sue Microsoft?
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I am not positive, but I don't think trademark extends across industries.
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I was going to ask the same thing haha
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"Construction companies throughout the United States know and respect the 'Forefront' name,"
How the hell can they confuse it then? Geez they see its Ms, smell some cash and the world is in grasp.
If I was MS, id revoke there liciences and send them to Apple or unix. Scary huh !
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The article didn't specify they were suing for money, but it is an assumption that is usually correct these days.
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I want to sue Microsoft over the Zune name. Not because I own it, but because it sounds similar to a bad movie I want to forget. I'm pretty sure there's a lawyer somewhere who would be delighted to take my case.
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I was wondering if Dexter and Chaney would actually sue MS for this. If I was Microsoft, I wouldn't want anything to do with Dexter and Chaney, Forefront has one of the worst user interfaces known to Man. Completely inconsistant.
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