advertising information

CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 ASIANOW
 U.S.
 LOCAL
 POLITICS
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
   computing
   personal technology
   space
 NATURE
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 HEALTH
 STYLE
 IN-DEPTH

 custom news
 Headline News brief
 daily almanac
 CNN networks
 CNN programs
 on-air transcripts
 news quiz

  CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 TIME INC. SITES:
 MORE SERVICES:
 video on demand
 video archive
 audio on demand
 news email services
 free email accounts
 desktop headlines
 pointcast
 pagenet

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

 SITE GUIDES:
 help
 contents
 search

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 WEB SERVICES:
COMPUTING

Net greeting card company alleges Microsoft is trying to destroy them

December 14, 1998
Web posted at: 11:30 AM EST

by Nancy Weil

From...

(IDG) -- Blue Mountain Arts is suing Microsoft on charges that the software giant is out to destroy the Internet greeting card company.

In a lawsuit dated Tuesday and filed in California Superior Court, Blue Mountain alleges that Microsoft set up a competing electronic greeting card Internet site and late in November distributed a trial version of its Internet Explorer software that includes an e-mail filter that sends Blue Mountain cards into a junk mail folder rather than to the intended recipient.

As an added twist to the suit, Blue Mountain has hired Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati to represent it in the case. Gary Reback, an attorney at the Palo Alto, Calif., firm is a well-known, long-time Microsoft nemesis.

The lawsuit alleges that the actions against Blue Mountain are part of a pattern of unfair behavior to stamp out companies that compete with Microsoft. But Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla said Friday that the e-mail filter not only routes Blue Mountain cards to a junk mail folder, but also electronic greetings sent by Microsoft, as well as other messages that the software believes to be unsolicited commercial mail, commonly called "spam."

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
  IDG.net home page
  InfoWorld home page
  InfoWorld forums home page
  InfoWorld Internet commerce section
  Get Media Grok and The Industry Standard Intelligencer delivered for free
 Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
  IDG.net's personal news page
  Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for IT leaders
  Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
  Search IDG.net in 12 languages
 News Radio
  Fusion audio primers
  Computerworld Minute
   

"This is a classic example of a frivolous suit spurred on by a long-time Microsoft detractor," Pilla said.

The e-mail filter has to be activated by users, Pilla added, and rather than blocking Blue Mountain's electronic cards or sending them into a junk mail folder controlled by Microsoft, it routes the messages into a junk mail folder kept on the user's computer. The messages still can be read by the user, he said.

Blue Mountain contacted Microsoft a few weeks ago regarding concerns over the filter and Pilla said Microsoft agreed to work with the greeting card company so messages coming from the company could be modified so as not to wind up in junk mail folders. However, when Microsoft officials later contacted Blue Mountain, the calls were not returned, Pilla said.

Consumers who frequent card shops might recognize the Blue Mountain line, characterized in its print cards by pastel nature scenes and the poetry of Susan Polis Schutz, who started the company in 1971 with her husband, illustrator Stephen Schutz.

A Blue Mountain official could not be reached for comment.

Nancy Weil is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service.

Related stories:
Latest Headlines

Today on CNN

Related IDG.net stories:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window Related sites:

External sites are not
endorsed by CNN Interactive.

SEARCH CNN.com
Enter keyword(s)   go    help

  
 

Back to the top
© 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.