Can You Outbid Microsoft For The Microsoft Name In Portugal?

from the have-fun-with-it dept

Mon, Dec 17th 2007 1:37pm — Mike Masnick

Microsoft is reasonably protective of its name -- even to ridiculous levels at times. However, it surprised us to find out that a company other than the Redmond giant happens to have the trademark on Microsoft in Portugal. In fact, that company is now trying to sell the name on eBay. The big Microsoft has to go by the name MSFT in Portugal, as the local company registered the name long before Microsoft moved into Portugal. Not surprisingly, the little Portuguese Microsoft has tried to sell the name to the big American Microsoft, but apparently the process was taking too long, so it just decided to throw the name up on eBay. The Freakonomics guys were just having a discussion about the Coase Theorem when it comes to domain names, and if you follow their reasoning, then it would suggest that the US-based Microsoft should eventually wind up with the name, as it must be more valuable to it than to anyone else. That seems reasonable, but in the meantime, it might be fun to imagine who else might want to buy it...

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: portugal, trademarks
Companies: microsoft

12 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

illegalprelude, 17 Dec 2007 @ 1:56pm

lets all bid and jack that price up. its not like MS cant afford it lol
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2007 @ 2:04pm

Apple, get on that.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Panaqqa, 17 Dec 2007 @ 2:28pm

I doubt Microsoft will pay big for it...
After all, billgates.com is just another parking page. The owner once thought the Microsoft founder would pay millions for it. Nice try.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2007 @ 2:45pm

OK, where is the ebay auction?
This post, and the story referenced, has no link to the actual auction....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bob (profile), 17 Dec 2007 @ 2:54pm

no auction site yet
The auction hasn't been set up yet, only planned.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2007 @ 4:19pm

Re: no auction site yet
Or rather, claimed to be planned to get MS to get off their thumbs and buy it off them soon.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
brwyatt, 17 Dec 2007 @ 5:32pm

Re:
I'll laugh if you accidentally win.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Levi Figueira, 17 Dec 2007 @ 8:56pm

Re: I doubt Microsoft will pay big for it...
The case here is a bit different! They had the NAME (not domain) registered since 1981, way before Microsoft was even very noticeable...

The company was going down the drain and they offered to Microsoft who was probably waiting for the company to go down and the name to be lost after some years... But the company never lost the name because they still exist, just not active anymore! :)

It still sounds weird anyway... :|
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Vitor Domingos, 18 Dec 2007 @ 4:17am

no...
This is not true. They'll be selling "Microsoft Informática", not "Microsoft Corporation", "MSFT" or still "Microsoft".

Here in Portugal they've registered "Microsoft Informática" and only then "Microsoft" was established here.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike Rowesaft, 18 Dec 2007 @ 5:54am

Name
Best sell the name now. In 20 years Micro$oft will run the governments of most major nations and so will be able to take it from you for nothing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
My Crow's Soft, 18 Dec 2007 @ 5:57am

Reason to buy
The only reason to buy would be if you thought you could sell for a profit later.

A company like M$ might refuse to get involved in such an auction (or not be able to due to company structure/response time). Another buyer could get the name on the cheap and then go through the stages to sell it to M$ later.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
toxicri, 20 Dec 2007 @ 1:09am

i would probably decide to sell it to anyone else than microsoft, just for the fun of it.. :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]