Savvysoft has received a cease and desist letter from Microsoft over its use of the word Excel in the company’s TurboExcel software, which enables spreadsheets to run on Linux and Unix whilst also speeding their performance by 300 times.
Microsoft has written to Savvysoft 19 years after it first began using Excel for its spreadsheet product and seven months after the company first applied for trademark registration of the name in April this year.
A Microsoft spokesperson told ComputerWire Microsoft can lay claim to the name, even though the company does not officially own the work as a trademark.
She added Microsoft publishes a list of guidelines on using the name Excel in ways that do not infringe on the company’s product. These, she said, include writing the ISV’s product followed with the expression for Excel.
However, Microsoft’s Office market place web site lists products from third parties that use Excel without for Excel, a fact Savvysoft founder Rich Tanenbaum regards as suspicious.
Tanenbaum, instead, sees Microsoft’s action as politically motivated, with the company objecting to Savvysoft’s use of Excel because its own product supports Linux.
They saw our product lets you take spreadsheets and convert them to programming code and run outside of windows. That can represent a powerful threat, Tanenbaum said.
Savvysoft has until December 1 to meet terms of Microsoft’s cease and desist letter. Microsoft’s spokesperson said: Ideally the parties will work to to resolve the matter.
