Microsoft v. Mike Rowe

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In late 2003, 17-year-old Canadian high school student Mike Rowe registered the domain name MikeRoweSoft.com to showcase his programming skills. Mike stated that he originally purchased the domain name because he thought adding the word “soft” to the end of his first and last name was funny given the success of the major company Microsoft. Microsoft did not find the domain name to be very funny; Microsoft’s intellectual property attorneys sent Mike a demand letter, which asked him to give up the domain name. Mike responded to the demand letter by asking to be compensated for the domain name. Microsoft responded to this request by offering Mike $10, the cost he incurred from registering the domain name.

Mike stated that he was quite mad at Microsoft for their paltry $10 offer for the domain name, he rebutted with a counteroffer of $10,000. In response to this larger counteroffer, Microsoft sent Mike a 25 page cease and desist letter in which they accused Mike of buying the domain name only to force them into a large settlement, a practice known as cybersquatting. In 2004 Microsoft initiated UDRP proceedings against Mike.

In response to the UDRP filing and the cease and desist letter, Mike went to the press with his story and generated what Microsoft would later describe as a “public relations mess” for the company. Eventually Microsoft settled out of court with Mike and terminated the UDRP proceedings. Microsoft softened their original stance with Mike and gave him a free Xbox with an assortment of video games in return for the domain name. Microsoft also gave Mike an all expense paid trip to the Microsoft Research Tech Fest at their headquarters outside of Seattle where he met executives at Microsoft and was given a free subscription to the Microsoft Developer Network. 

In subsequent interviews Mike said that although it was a lot to handle at the time he was happy with the way things played out and that he didn’t harbor any ill will towards Microsoft. Microsoft later admitted that they may have been a bit too aggressive in their protection of the Microsoft trademark against a 17-year-old high school student.