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WHAT'S IN A NAME? ASK 3COMIS MICROSOFT FACING charges of being the bad boy of technology yet again? Yep. But this time, 3Com's the one crying foul. 3Com wasn't upset on Jan. 7 when Microsoft introduced a handheld PC modeled on its best-selling PalmPilot. The entry of a big company like Microsoft, it said, meant consumers would be reassured about the still-fledgling category of pocket-size computers. The new models use Windows CE software and will be sold by such companies as Philips, Samsung, and Casio, which makes the Cassiopeia. But 3Com, whose version uses its own PalmOS software, was furious when Microsoft decided to call its design the ''Palm PC.'' 3Com has already trademarked ''Palm Computing'' and ''Palm Pilot.'' ''Microsoft should be ashamed of itself,'' says Donna Dubinsky, president of 3Com's Palm Computing subsidiary. ''It's bad enough that they have to copy everybody's products, but do they have to copy the name?'' The company says it may go ahead and sue Microsoft. Meanwhile, Microsoft executive Roger Gulrajani pooh-poohs the problem. ''Palm,'' he says, is simply a generic term for a device held in one's hand.
EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT & ROBERT McNATT RELATED ITEMS
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Updated Jan. 15, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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