Microsoft announced on Friday that it has settled its trade mark
dispute with XBOX Technologies, a small Michigan-based technology
holding company. In exchange for an undisclosed sum, XBOX will
change its name and drop a lawsuit against Microsoft over use of
the name Xbox for the upcoming Microsoft games console.18 Jun 2001
XBOX Technologies filed applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office to use the name in March 1999, over six months before Microsoft made its first Xbox filing. While most terms of the agreement between the companies remain confidential, Microsoft will retain or acquire all trade mark rights to Xbox.
A spokesman for XBOX Technologies described the settlement terms to news agency Reuters as “very, very mutually satisfying.”
Microsoft’s Xbox will be released in the US on 8th November.