Microsoft Corp. this week won an injunction from a Swedish court in its ongoing international trademark battle with Lindows.com Inc.
According to a ruling in the Stockholm City Court on Wednesday, Lindows.com must stop selling its products in Sweden that use the terms which Microsoft is alleging violates its Windows trademarks, pending the outcome of the infringement case. These terms include Lindows, Lindows.com and LindowsOS.
The cost could be steep for the San Diego, Calif.-based Lindows.com—it faces a penalty of 3 million Swedish Krona, or about $409,000, if it violates the injunction. Lindows.com sells a version of the Linux operating system for the desktop that it markets as an alternative to Windows.
Microsoft, which also has sued Lindows.com in the United States over trademark infringement in a case set for a trial early next year, recently took its legal fight to Europe as well.
Disputes between the two rivals extend beyond trademark issues. They also have been trading jabs over a Lindows.com Web site that allows California consumers to electronically file for a share of a $1.1 billion settlement in a state class action against Microsoft. Microsoft has said that the process Lindows.com set up violates the terms of the settlement.