Microsoft has dropped down hard on a UK teacher with a little bit of plastic helping dyslexic students read. It seems the company can’t learn from past mistakes.
“Word Windows” is a small plastic reading tool which makes a little window so readers can focus on a word or letters without distraction.
All great until a legal letter arrived from the proverbial ‘800-pound gorilla’ (Microsoft) opposing the name and trademark. Their action has now gone public making it look like Microsoft is against a simple cheap tool to help people read.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has gone in hard legally before trying a less confrontational and more media friendly approach.
In 2004, Microsoft sent a nasty, threatening letter to the owner of the web site mikerowesoft.com demanding the URL be handed over to Microsoft. That was a PR disaster because the owner wasn’t trying to steal a Microsoft.com-like domain. Michael (Mike) Rowe was a teenage programmer setting up his own little software concern – Mike Rowe Soft. Microsoft backpedaled after the media backlash saying at the time “We take our trademark seriously, but in this case maybe a little too seriously”.
Apparently, they’ve learnt nothing about how to deal with these issues. A polite but firm letter (maybe not from the legal department) should resolve many of these matters while not preventing stronger action, if necessary.
It’s also a little ironic, considering how much time and effort Microsoft has put into their Accessibility features which include some options for dyslexia.
On the other hand, since ‘Word for Windows’ is the most common word-processor on the planet, it’s hard to understand that the makers of the plastic tool didn’t realize the similarity of names might cause trouble.
Here’s hoping there’s a reasonable and civil resolution without a lot of cost to a small business.
Add a special font for dyslexics to Word and Office
Immersive Reader in Word for Windows, Mac and iPad
