Xbox name cleared
Microsoft buys Xbox trademark from small Florida company
Back in February Microsoft were somewhat embarrassed to discover that a small Florida-based holding company called XBOX Technologies had trademarked the name of their forthcoming console system back in March 1999, six months before they filed their own application. At the time XBOX's CEO John Van Leeuwen declared that "there's no way that we can co-exist", adding that "either we find a business solution or we get into a legal battle".
Today it looks like that business solution has been found, with the little known software company announcing that it will be transferring the Xbox trademark rights to Microsoft and changing their name. Exact details of the deal aren't being disclosed, but its thought that a large sum of cash (probably in the form of a briefcase stuffed with crumpled $10 bills) changed hands. Robert Koolen, a vice president of one of the companies that comes under the Xbox Technologies umbrella, is reported by Reuters as saying that "it was a very, very mutually satisfying agreement". We bet it was.