A U.S. court has pushed back the jury trial in a trademark dispute between Microsoft and Linux vendor Lindows.com until March 1 next year.

Microsoft sued Lindows.com in December 2001, accusing the company of infringing its "Windows" trademark and asking the court to bar Lindows.com from further using the Lindows name.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle originally set a trial date in April, but moved that to December to give Lindows.com more time to prepare for the case. The trial has now been pushed back until March 1 because of a scheduling conflict, Lindows.com said in a statement Tuesday.

A court document issued Monday confirms the scheduling change. Parties have to file trial briefs, proposed jury instructions and other documents by Feb. 25, 2004, according to the document.

Lindows.com sells operating system software, the LindowsOS, and a productivity suite, Lindows Office, that competes with Microsoft products. The San Diego company argues that "windows" is a generic term and that Microsoft was granted its trademark under questionable circumstances.

Microsoft has already lost two requests for an injunction barring Lindows.com from using the Lindows name. The matter is now for a jury to decide.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.