random question: how strict are copyright laws? if for some strange reason i wanted to create a company called megasoft and release an os called doors could ms (the original) send lawyers after me? <_W_> scgtrp, the test is usually if whether a user might mistake one product and company for another scgtrp: they could, but they'd lose <_W_> in your case, that test will probably fail, but that doesn't mean Microsoft won't still try to sue indeed well, assume doors is different enough from windows that anyone but a complete idiot could tell the difference they'll just threaten you first scgtrp: it's not about the software scgtrp: it's about the name if people think 'doors' is 'windows' which they won't, of course ok, maybe microsoft was a bad example people that get the joke will obviously not get confused what if i made a myspace clone called yourarea? <_W_> the problem with the laws of today is that the laws are so rarely actually applied; what is really applied are the economic threat of having to spend lots of money on lawyers and people that don't get it, just won't associate it scgtrp: yourarea doesn't sound or look like 'myspace' well, what is really applied is the precedence of decades of corporate litigation so they couldn't (successfully) sue me for that? scgtrp: depends on what you mean by successfully they couldn't win against you but they could defeat you if they went crazy and tried to sue me would they win bury you in court costs, etc. no, they would lose do you think they would care? but they could make you give up by bankrupting you no