Microsoft Corp appears to have backed down from a legal battle against 3Com Corp over the Palm PC name. 3Com president and CEO Eric Benhamou told PC Week during a San Francisco investors conference on Monday that Microsoft had agreed to drop the name, which 3Com contested would be confused with its own PalmPilot product. It had threatened to sue both Microsoft and its OEMs (CI No 3,362). Microsoft had intended to use the name informally for the forthcoming range of palmtop devices based on a cut-down version of Windows CE. The software, originally code-named Gryphon, and including the Microsoft Pocket Outlook calender, contact manager, note taker, and email client, is to be used on devices from companies such as Casio Computer Co, LG Electronics Inc, Philips Electronics North America, Samsung Electronics America, and Uniden America Corp. The first devices are expected this month, priced at between $300 to $500. Benhamou said he expects the settlement to be annouced over the next few days.
