IE? Indo-European/Internet Explorer

[Mark A Mandel]

On Tue, 2 Apr 2002, carljweber wrote:

#The following just came up on cybalist at yahoogroups.com , the Indo-European
#discussion group.

I assume it was dated April 1; right?

-- Mark A. Mandel


#''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
#In 1998, Microsoft Corp., accused (oh, how unfairly) of stealing the name
#"Internet Explorer" from Synet Inc., agreed to pay $5 million to Synet's
#trustees to end a legal battle over the use of the name. In return,
#Microsoft now owns Synet's trademark registrations for the name "Internet
#Explorer" in the state of Illinois. This includes the abbreviation "IE",
#which is regarded by Microsoft as a copyrighted product and a legally
#protected brand name. Microsoft's lawyers have just notified eGroups that
#the unauthorised use of the abbreviation "IE" on the Internet (regardless of
#its actual reference) will qualify as copyright infringement and all
#necessary legal steps will be taken to discourage it. We are therefore
#requested to invent a new abbreviation for "Indo-European" or to use the
#unabbreviated term. "PIE" cannot be used either, since it has also been
#copyrighted as the abbreviated form of of "Personalized Internet Experience"
#("The Microsoft PIE").
#
#Piotr
#