I have no idea if this kid's story is legitamate or if he's just trying to hustle a few bucks, but if Microsoft really is taking action against him then he's doomed, and with good reason. Firstly, though Mike and The Register both claim Microsoft is claiming copyright infringement, I think the claim is actually for tradename infringement.
1) He could have registered mikerowe.com, but he didn't, he went for mikerowesoft.com. Now that may not have been so bad except...
2) The article in The Register states that "He registered the domain in August because he thought it would be cool to have a site that sounded like the famous company". This shows that he's clearly trying to leverage the brand name recognition of another company. Companies spend fortunes getting their name known, they naturally wish to prevent anyone getting a free ride on their advertising dollar by setting up companies or web sites with like sounding names, and this is one of the reasons that the trademark laws are set up the way they are.
Mike mentions on his web page that he plans to set up a company called MikeRoweSoft, he doesn't say whether or not he's tried registering yet. Now, a tradename or trademark can be registered in any number of the 200 or so trademark areas: Construction, Medicine, Engineering, etc, and in one or more countries, but note that tradename registration is expensive and can take years. If Mike was setting up a construction company for instance, he'd probably have no problems because I don't think Microsoft have registered their trade name in that area. That he wishes to set up a software company with a similarly sounding name to an established software company means any application for his trade name will fail. Note that he can go ahead and register his business name or company as MikeRoweSoft, he just can't get tradename status for his company. However, even if he does get his company registered with that name, Microsoft can come along at any time and take him to court for tradename infringement and force him to change the name.
And, most importantly and most often overlooked in these "li'l battler vs the big bad monolith" stories...
3) Microsoft are actually required -- under the terms of the tradename they've been awarded -- to persue any entity that attempts to use their trademarks or trade names, or similarly sounding tradename, or similarly looking trademark. If they are seen to have knowingly allowed their trade name to be infringed without taking action, then they risk losing their tradename status.
Now, do you really think Microsoft would let some 17 year old git force their company name into the generic arena? Neither did I.
