Microsoft Achieves Pyrrhic Victory
Hoofddorp, the Netherlands (ots/PRNewswire)
On Wednesday 7 May 2008, the court ruled that the domain name MSNLOCK will become the property of Microsoft. With this decision Microsoft achieved a Pyrrhic victory. They win the lawsuit against Carola Eppink, mother of three children and one of the brains behind Unicaresoft, but lose the battle for the public opinion.
Carola has received a great deal of support from people all over the world, from the Netherlands to Italy, from India to Japan and from America to Russia, which has underlined how urgent and widespread the lack of parentally controlled internet security is. The fact that her product Benzoy is already being used by thousands of families only strengthens this position and characterises the social problem of children, who have difficulty detaching themselves from chatting / 'MSN-ing' and/or the Internet.
Commenting on the ruling, Carola said, "Of course we are saddened by the fact that the judge has given the domain name MSNLOCK to Microsoft and that he doesn't allow this reference to trademark. When everybody is eating tomatoes, we cannot talk about pickles. When 90% are using MSN, we can't think up an appropriate alternative name."
That other MSN domain names with explicit pornographic content are still online, certainly doesn't render Unicaresoft speechless. The many years that the protection of the trademark MSN has been neglected are impossible to fix within 2 weeks. Unicaresoft indisputably showed that Microsoft can't pursue a consistent brand policy, as evidenced by the hundreds of domain names with the letter combination 'MSN'. Despite the fact that the name MSN even is used often by obscure parties who seduce and/or mislead children and young people, the use of MSNLOCK as a referred trademark is not permitted for the protection of our children.
Carola added: "Just talking about it is not enough. Growing up is about testing the boundaries and raising children is about setting them. That having boundaries is a necessary part of growing up is a view shared by parents and young people alike."
Therefore, Unicaresoft will continue its mission to protect children and young people from the harmful effects of excessive MSN and Internet use, keep improving Benzoy and further develop the product in the short term for use in schools.
About Unicaresoft
Unicaresoft Corporation develops software that offers security for vulnerable groups such as children and young adults. Unicaresoft Corporation stands for safety and security for the Internet, but also security where it concerns chat addiction of children and young adults. Unicaresoft Corporation is an initiative of concerned parents and software developers, who have chosen to collaborate in developing more secure and safe software products for parents and their children.
http://www.unicaresoft.com/press
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Note for the editorial staff, not intended for publication: For
further information, please contact Gérard Ghazarian on
+31(0)6-54311847 (Unicaresoft) or Carola Eppink on +31(0)620417913
(Unicaresoft). If all lines are engaged, contact our office
+31(0)23-7518350.