Microsoft to take over MikeRoweSoft.com

Scott Manning
January 26, 2004 | Comments (8)

Mike Rowe threw a "Soft" at the end of his name to come up with mikerowesoft.com. Pretty clever, I thought. Microsoft didn't think so.

They sent him a 25-page letter explaining that he was a copyright infringer and threatened legal action. That's right, kid, you can't have a name sounding like our big-ass company. People might get confused or something.

They pushed Mike to give up rights to the domain and a deal has been reached. Being that Mike is only 17, the deal isn't that bad.

Mike gets the following:

Reimbursement for changing to a new Web site and redirecting traffic from the old site
Microsoft certification training
An Xbox Console
And "other gifts"

While that's all fine and dandy, I would have preferred cash.

Following Mike's lead
After seeing the benefits of having a name that sounds like other companies, I have decided to register the following domains:

microscott.com

Microsoft, you can contact me through my usual contact form. By the way, I already have an Xbox, so you'll need a better offer than that.

Related links:
CNN news story
MikeRoweSoft.com

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Comments (8):

1) Posted by: PhilB
January 26, 2004 6:08 PM

Whoops........I think someone beat you to microscott.com; you better have a look :)
It is amazing how sensitive these giant companies can be.

2) Posted by: Scott Manning
January 26, 2004 7:06 PM

lol. You're right. I hope everyone knows that I was totally being sarcastic now. :)

3) Posted by: PhilB
January 27, 2004 8:38 AM

I knew you were joking, but figured you just may go ahead and try to do that as a farce. Then when I looked up the page I thought; this ain't Scott or he went to a lot of work real fast *L*.

4) Posted by: "The Original" Steven Van Der Werf
April 6, 2004 9:33 AM

Mike should have asked for cash. They would have caved. Do not Delete this comment.

5) Posted by: Michiel van der Ros
July 11, 2004 5:11 PM

From what I heard, a lawyer offered his services for free to Mike. Then at some point Microsoft dropped the case (probably because of negative attention) and Mike sold all the legal documents on eBay, making a nice sum of money off them.

6) Posted by: Chris
August 3, 2004 8:36 PM

So tell me what you think of my case, I registered this domain http://www.verizoncanyouhearmenow.com after hassling with Verizon over fraud charges they put on my credit. The local TV station covered the story and directed a bunch of traffic to the site which has gotten pretty good response so far. I didn't think about it prior to registering the domain but I am curious if they'll take legal action because I used "verizon" in the url. Any thoughts?

7) Posted by: Randy Random
August 16, 2004 12:30 AM

randy1975@gmx.net

8) Posted by: Scott Manning
September 16, 2004 9:58 AM

oi oi! we have the same name!