Dell Goes to Court to Cancel Psion's Netbook Trademark
Dell Goes to Court to Cancel Psion's Netbook Trademark
Posted 02/20/2009 at 8:02am
| by Paul Lilly
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Little known Psion Teklogix, who used to sell a pair of laptops called the netBook and netBook Pro, emerged from the shadows last December to demand that websites stop using the term 'netbook.' According to the company's trademark attorney, now is the time to cash in on what has become an exploding new market sector all this netbook talk could damage Psion's trademark registrations.
Ready for the irony? Dell has filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office asking that it cancel Psion's netbook trademark. This coming from the same company who tried (unsuccessfully) to trademark the term Cloud computing. Nevertheless, the situation isn't the same, and Dell's first basis for cancellation is that "Psion has abandoned the 'netbook' mark" by no longer offering laptops under the trademark.
The three-basis petition also included an argument for fraud, saying Psion had not been using the netbook trademark as of November 17, 2006, despite signing a sworn declaration that it was, and genericness, pointing out that the widespread use of the term netbook has made it generic.
Read the full petition here (PDF), then hit the jump and tell us what you think.
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MvanA
February 20, 2009 at 12:00pm
I believe the point Dell is trying to make is that since nobody had really heard the term NETBOOK before it was used to describe sub-notebooks and it was adopted as the generic name of those devices AFTER Psion had stopped making laptops using the name then it should be considered abandoned and open for general use. Kleenex are still in production and so are Band-Aids which is why they would still have a serious claim to their names. Does having a product no longer in production mean that Dell is right and the name is abandoned? Let's see someone produce a "Turbo PC" and see if Dell considers the name abandoned.
buckaroo
February 20, 2009 at 9:24am
OK, so acording to Dell "... the widespread use of the term netbook has made it generic". If this is the case, why does Kimberly-Clark still own the name Kleenex since we all call other tissues Kleenex anyway; or Johnson & Johnson with their ever popular Band-aid. Do we call them adhesive bandages? No. Although I do feal that Psion is taking advantage of the situation, it is obvious to me that they were the first to use and trademark the term. If Dell's petition goes through, how is anyone to defend their claim to a product name. These trademarks do expire, and the onus is on the person who registers the name to continue the trademark by renewing and paying any fees (similur to a .com). I say, suck it up, and change the description of your product. Its only a name, isn't it?
chaos.13037
February 20, 2009 at 9:23am
Yargh, even with me one eye I can see these be patent trolls. Scurvy dogs of the IP seas they be.
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