Magistrate Ulrika Carlehall of Stockholm City Court said in her ruling that Microsoft has shown probable cause for trademark infringement and therefore may suffer further damage if products with the Lindows name continue to be sold in Sweden. She set a fine of US$3 million (3 million kroner) if Lindows fails to comply with the injunction.
"Microsoft is using lawsuits as a battering ram to smash Linux, to prevent it from reaching retail stores," said Michael Robertson, chief executive officer of Lindows.com. "We're hopeful that the Judge will see Microsoft's true intentions are to sustain their monopoly and will grant Swedish computer users the same choices that global computer users are benefiting from. Microsoft tried this identical legal manoeuvre in the U.S., attempting to block the growth of Linux with mainstream computer users."
Lindows sells a version of the open-source Linux operating system with an interface that resembles Microsoft's Windows. Microsoft sued the company for alleged infringement of its U.S. trademark shortly after Lindows opened for business, with a trial set for March. Microsoft recently expanded the trademark battle to Europe.
One presumes that the Swedes, who do not speak English as a first language, do not realise that the term 'Windows' is a generic English word, much like 'Table' or 'Chair', and should not be given any form of trademark protection, certainly not against words like 'Lindows.com' which do not exist in the English language.