Microsoft is at it again. This week, they sent a trademark infringement notice to a 22-year old Australian Windows developer, Adam Lyttle, who wrote and distributed a program named Windows Defender. He agreed to sign over the rights to Microsoft, since it probably was a genuine trademark infringement case. But when signing the agreement, Microsoft sneaked in a clause that gave them all rights to the Windows Defender name. Adam did not receive any monetary compensation, of course; nor was he informed why they decided to pursue this particular case, and why they demanded rights to the name.

It was all revealed today, when Microsoft named its antispyware app ‘Windows Defender’.

Last year, the company went after Mike Rowe, a 17 year old developer, who owned a site named MikeRoweSoft.com. They succeeded in getting the site taken down, citing that the site’s pronunciation was too close to their own name, but later realized that they took him too seriously.

I wonder how much the two names, “MikeRoweSoft” and “Windows Defender” diluted Microsoft’s trademarks. But IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer), so I may be wrong. But does this mean that young developers (…, developers, developers, developers, … you know the drill!) must first take Law 101 before they write the first line of code? How much research should I perform before I pick a name for my shiny new product? I can’t afford to hire a legal department the size of Microsoft’s, so does that I mean I’m left to fend for myself?