Microsoft registers 'Excel' trademark 19 years late; Savvysoft cries foul.

NEW YORK -- Savvysoft, a New York City-based financial software company, announced it is facing a trademark infringement challenge by Microsoft over the use of the term "Excel."

The company's new product, TurboExcel, speeds up Excel spreadsheets as much as 300 times, secures and protects proprietary spreadsheet methodologies, and makes Excel spreadsheets instantly portable to other systems, including those running on Linux.

"Microsoft has never been granted a registered trademark on Excel," said Rich Tanenbaum, founder of Savvysoft. "In fact, they waited 19 years just to apply. Plus, there are over a hundred third-party products with Excel in their name," continued Tanenbaum. "In fact, Microsoft's own website actually offers downloads of over a dozen products with Excel in their name that are offered by third-parties. As any trademark lawyer will tell you, when you've got a trademark, and you let other companies use it, you lose it."

Tanenbaum noted Microsoft's own trademark web site, http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/trademarks lists dozens of trademarks, but doesn't mention Excel.

"Microsoft's actions over the years have been consistent with that of a company that doesn't own the Excel mark," said Tanenbaum. "Before naming our product, we checked pretty carefully on the use of the word Excel. To be honest, we don't know why Microsoft is singling us out."

Tanenbaum suspects Microsoft sees TurboExcel as a threat because it allows Excel models to be instantly converted into C++, which can then be run on not only Windows, but also Linux. IT departments can eliminate their dependency on Excel spreadsheets by moving business logic to corporate systems where they can be integrated and made secure. "If all the business logic written in Excel moves to C++, it's the death knell for Microsoft's spreadsheet monopoly," said Tanenbaum.

Ironically, TurboExcel could help Microsoft sell more copies of Excel because it allows people to use Excel in a novel way. People can, for the first time, use Excel to write computer programs in C++. Excel becomes a programming tool.

Tanenbaum notes that TurboExcel has already received positive reviews in InfoWorld, ComputerWorld Canada, and Institutional Investor. It's also been the subject of news articles on AP, Bloomberg, CNET, and a number of blogs and Internet newsgroups.

"We're faced with a choice," says Tanenbaum. "We can fight Microsoft and spend half a million dollars or more. Or we can pay $100,000 to replace all our sales and marketing material and redo every bit of publicity. Even then, you can't put a dollar value on intangibles like goodwill and brand recognition.

"Microsoft is telling its developers: 'Please develop for our platform. But if you're successful, we'll sue you.'"

About Savvysoft

Savvysoft provides financial derivatives analytics, portfolio and risk management systems, and market-implied corporate default rates. Its products are used by over 3000 institutions in 15 countries worldwide, including top-tier banks, dealers, brokers, money managers, energy suppliers, corporate treasurers, auditors and consultants. www.turboexcel.com www.savvysoft.com.