As I’m sure you already know, Microsoft has invested heavily in publicity campaigns meant to promote their latest Operating System. But it seems that the name they invested so much into is not really belonging to Microsoft. Yes, you’ve heard that right, Philippe Gildas from France says he’s the rightful owner of the “Vista” trademark.

“I deposited the mark with the autumn 2003 in all the fields of the intellectual property – ‘entertainment’, and of the media: out of press, in TV, on the Web, etc. Indeed, my chain ‘Vista’, that I launched on CanalSat and all the cable-operators on November 15, is a project that left the hat just yet.”

As Gildas states in the above paragraph, it seems that he’s the one who bought in 2003 the Vista trademark for his plan of launching a television network with channels dedicated to senior citizens. And it’s real bad luck for Gildas, as he was just steps away from launching his network when Windows Vista was released.

Of course a trial will begin regarding this, but Microsoft has been trough situations like this before and it’s sure that they’ll find a way to come out alright. For example they could just make sure the lawsuit will go on long enough for Vista to become obsolete.