It seems that Microsoft is not assured of an automatic victory over Lindows' use of a name similar to its Windows trademark. The US Trademark office refused to trademark the name for many years since it was clearly a generic word (and used by more than just Microsoft at the time); but in 1995 it inexplicably changed this ruling without giving any reason and Windows as a trademark was born.

I like Michael Robertson's characterisation of the lawsuit - "They [Microsoft] lobbed a grenade into our office - and we just lobbed it back", although didn't he co-opt a generic term for his previous company - MP3.com?

There are plenty of examples of bastardised words as trademarks, e.g. the Ford 'Ka' although one Slashdot reader wisely pointed out: "I personally would have touble living in a world where every product had a non-dictionary name. It would begin sounding like a D&D campaign."

Glass Panes and Software: Windows' Name is Challenged [New York Times]