It’s been a while since we checked in on the trademark dispute between Intel and Psion over the term “netbook.” Last I’d heard, the two companies were busy throwing legal documents at one another to establish whether the term was generic, whether Psion had been actively taking steps to protect it, and so on. Now […]
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LG Whatchamacallit: Coming up with a new word for netbook
LG is running a contest to find a description for its X120 mini-laptop than “netbook.” It’s not clear whether the company is trying to avoid a lawsuit from trademark-holder Psion, or just looking for a whimsical way to make “LG X120” sound a bit sexier. Either way, the company is giving away 3 LG X120 […]
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Intel to Psion: Nuh uh, you did NOT sell netbooks after 2003
And the shouting match between Intel and Psion continues. Psion, if you’ll remember is the company behind a series of ahead-of-their-time clamshell mini-computers. The last few products in Psion’s handheld PC lineup were called Netbooks. Late last year the company started threatening legal action to retailers, computer makers, and bloggers who were using the word […]
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Psion demands a jury trial in netbook trademark case
It looks like we’re in for what could be a long and protracted legal battle over the right to use the word “netbook” for commerce purposes. Because it doesn’t look like either Intel or Psion are going to back down. In 2008, Intel, along with an enormous group of computer makers, retailers, journalists, bloggers, and […]
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Psion: We’re still selling netbooks
Psion has issued a rather surprising response to challenges to its “netbook” trademark from Intel and Dell. Those companies claim that Psion essentially abandoned its rights to the trademark when it stopped manufacturing the original Psion Netbook and Psion Netbook Pro a a few years back. But Psion sent a letter to tech blog jkOnTheRun […]
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Like Dell, Intel is challenging Psion’s trademark of “netbook”
Dell wasn’t the only company to challenge Psion’s netbook trademark in court last week. It turns out that Intel is also asking courts to cancel Psion’s trademark, declare that Intel has not been infringing on the trademark and prevent Psion from asserting any rights to the term again in the future. The Intel complaint makes […]
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Dell challenges Psion’s netbook trademark
It looks like we might not have to start referring to low cost mini-laptops as minibooks, kneetops, smallbooks, lightbooks, pNetBooks, or litebooks anytime soon. While Psion, the comany that owns the trademark to the term “netbook” has asked companies to stop using the term, computer maker Dell has filed a petition challenging Psion’s trademark. In […]
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Save The Netbooks campaign launched (semantics)
Over the last 18 months we’ve seen the rise of two things (well, at least two): Low cost, low powered notebooks and a common name for this type of device: netbooks. Unfortunately, the term netbook is a registered trademark of Psion, a company that put out a device back in the early part of the […]
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What’s in a name? Netbook vs. Mini-Notebook
I’ve been saying for ages that I’m not a big fan of the term “netbook,” because it implies that tiny laptops like the Asus Eee PC, MSI Wind, or HP Mini are basically web browsers with keyboards. But the truth is you can use these little machines to watch movies, listen to music, browse photos, […]
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Psion explains its trademark position, probably won’t sue me
Psion, the company that holds the trademark for the word “netbook” is attempting to better explain why it sent cease & desist letters to some bloggers and web sites recently. Apparently most of the entities on the receiving end were advertisers and computer makers using the term to describe their products, not journalists and bloggers. […]