Dell Fighting "Netbook" Trademark

[Virtuoso]

As many of you know, netbooks are one of the coolest new things on the market: small, light, and capable of low end usage for a very affordable price.

On Wednesday the PC maker filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel a registered trademark for the term "Netbook" by a company called Psion.

Psion is a Canadian mobile computer maker that owns the trademark and indeed has sold a product called Netbook in the past. Psion began sending some tech bloggers and Netbook makers cease-and-desist notices late last year asking them to stop using the term "Netbook." It's what you're supposed to do when you own a trademark: defend it.

But Dell is taking the legal step of accusing the company of failing to defend it properly, not actually using the term for any current products--or for the last six years--and for lying about it.

I am usually not a huge fan of Dell, but this is pretty cool of them. Tradmark squatting is just as bad as patent squatting.

From CNET (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10167605-1.html)

[DingBat]

Trademark squatting? WTF are you on, really? You do get how our economy works, don't you?

If someone out there wanted to start calling their product "XBox" and Microsoft got all pissy about it, that would be "trademark squatting"? C'mon.

Companies invest time and effort in developing both patents and trademarks. You may not like the fact that somone had the foresight to call their product a "netbook" ahead of the curve, but they did. If it's a registered trademark, I don't see that Dell has a leg to stand on.

[Flatpicker]

Companies invest time and effort in developing both patents and trademarks. You may not like the fact that somone had the foresight to call their product a "netbook" ahead of the curve, but they did. If it's a registered trademark, I don't see that Dell has a leg to stand on.

It's not an economic question, but a legal one.
Once a term is shown to have lost it's specificity, then it can be attached to the entire genre and the original TM holder will lose their mark.

It's why Q-tips and Kleenex fight very hard to keep their brand names separate from others in the market.
The original owner of the "Netbook" TM allowed it to define a particular segment of the market and did not chase down the infringers until after the damage was done. You want to keep something like that, you have to mount a vigorous defense. Psion did not do that.

Dell has every right to fight it now, and will probably win this, seeing as ASUS and HP and every other "Netbook" maker defines their product as a netbook.

[Jotoco]

The term is being used for a long time already, but just now they saw the $$$$$$$ flying.

And other thing, if they let 6 years pass, then they are not using the term anymore.

I really don't understand your american laws over trademark and such. I only know they SUCK, hard.

[Virtuoso]

Trademark squatting? WTF are you on, really? You do get how our economy works, don't you?

If someone out there wanted to start calling their product "XBox" and Microsoft got all pissy about it, that would be "trademark squatting"? C'mon.

Companies invest time and effort in developing both patents and trademarks. You may not like the fact that somone had the foresight to call their product a "netbook" ahead of the curve, but they did. If it's a registered trademark, I don't see that Dell has a leg to stand on.

They haven't used the term in 6 years. This would mean they are in fact "squatting" on a trademark.

[Flatpicker]

I really don't understand your american laws over trademark and such. I only know they SUCK, hard.

We don't understand our laws over trademark and tradedress. They suck hard, but nobody seems to want to straighten them out because you can make money by taking this to court.

[InfiniteAmmo]

Trademark squatting? WTF are you on, really? You do get how our economy works, don't you?

If someone out there wanted to start calling their product "XBox" and Microsoft got all pissy about it, that would be "trademark squatting"? C'mon.

You didn't read the article at all, did you.

Psion has virtually abandoned the "netbook" trademark, since they haven't done ANYTHING with it for 6 years.

'sides, people have been calling them netbooks for a year or two now...and all of a sudden Psion wants a slice of the pie?

Don't think so. Go Dell!