Subscribe

Apple wins round one of Tiger suit

By Damian Clarkson, ITWeb junior journalist
Johannesburg, 17 May 2005

Apple wins round one of Tiger suit

Apple has scored an early victory in a lawsuit brought against the company by TigerDirect, which alleged Mac OS X 10.4, known as Tiger, infringes on its trademarked name.

According to BetaNews, US District Court Judge Joan Lenard rejected TigerDirect`s request for a preliminary injunction forcing Apple to stop using the word tiger.

TigerDirect filed the suit last month, just days before Apple`s new operating system was due to go on sale. The online retailer claimed Apple engaged in deceptive and unfair trade practices and that Apple`s use of Tiger "is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the general purchasing public".

The main issue revolved around search engines, with TigerDirect saying Apple`s Mac OS X 10.4 launch has flooded the Internet with references to "tiger" and knocked the retailer from the top of search results on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

However, Judge Lenard disputed that Apple adopted the Tiger name in bad faith and rejected claims that any confusion would arise among customers.

Host of new Xbox 360 games

Microsoft says Xbox 360 users will be able to choose from more than 160 games, with up to 40 expected to be available by the end of the year.

Company representatives also announced a partnership with Square Enix, the Japanese distributor of the "Final Fantasy" series, which has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide.

According to News.com, broad game support - and especially popular titles - is significant for any console, as it will become appealing as more games can be played on it.

Microsoft struggled with its original Xbox release because it was late to market and thus unable to build up broad title support.

Open source can halve UK school IT budgets

The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency says schools using open source software could halve the cost of IT.

The report, part of which was leaked earlier this month, found that the cost per PC for primary schools in the UK using open source was half that of those running proprietary software, and 20% less for secondary schools. It would also cut support costs by up to 60%, reports NewsFactor Network.

The report suggested that the best performing schools were those running dual-platform PCs. This gave the advantages of open source`s cost reductions while guaranteeing interoperability with commercial software.

Share