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Dell Accuses Psion of "Fraud" Over Netbook
Barence writes "Dell has issued court papers in the US, accusing Psion of fraudulently laying claim to the term netbook. Psion sent out warning letters late last year to PC manufacturers, retailers and bloggers alike, asking them to stop using the term netbook, which the company registered as a trademark in the late 1990s. But in a Petition for Cancellation of Psion's trademark, the PC manufacturer accuses Psion of abandoning the term and fraudulently claiming it was still in use. 'Psion is not currently offering laptop computers under the Netbook trademark,' Dell's petition claims. The petition also claims that Psion made false statements about its use of the term Netbook in a sworn declaration to the US Trademark Office."
A trademark registration is generally regarded as prima facie evidence of a legitimate interest. However, if the mark is not used in substantial interstate commerce after a period of time, the mark can be invalidated with a successful court challenge.
However, if they were using the mark, or intending to use the mark in a good faith effort, Dell can lose and open themselves to paying Psion's legal fees as well as a counter suit, cessation of use in commerce, and a healthy share of any profits used under that term. (i.e. i can defend a trademark on a device i'm designing even if i haven't sold a single unit).
One final thing, IANAL, but I talk to them when I'm feeling masochistic.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
I'm pretty sure that a few other companies use netbook as a trademark. Ex. Asus. Thus voiding the lawsuit basically. At least according to a lawyer I know.
Please visit http://www.mederbil.com/ i7, GTX 275, 4 1TB Caviar Green in RAID 0+1 array, EVGA X58 3X SLI Board, Silver
This may be interesting to watch play out. On the one hand, Psion did actually use the trademark in the past, and the letters it sent could be considered a defense of trademark. On the other hand, if they intentionally falsified information, there ought to be repercussions.
Beside those legal grounds for making a decision, the question of "buzzword-squatting" will likely come into play here. I don't know if that label necessarily applies in this case, but to the extent that Dell uses the concept in its argument, it becomes relevant.
zzzzzzzz
Maybe we will see people selling Notbooks just like they used to talk about *nix.
Or maybe I should trademark the terms N[ou]b[(ook)(uck)(ux)]s
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I used to sell the Psion Series 5 back when I worked at CompUSA. I really thought the company had gone belly-up.
Which leaves me to wonder, how many others saw the article and thought for sure that Psion was already no longer?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
meh, everyone and the dog use the term netbook referring to small laptops. once is in the public domain manufacturers can call it pre-laptop chiqui-laptop pico-laptop pixie-laptop and still when someone goes into the store he will be asking for netbooks.
Why is it that when I make a petition it takes thousands of signatures.. but when a lawyer makes a petition it just takes him??
once more into the breach
1989 - First known use of the word 'netbook' (registered trademark by Asymetrix corp)
1991 - Trademark abandoned by Asymetrix
1996 - Psion applies to the USPTO for the trademark for netbook
1999 - First reference I can find to a Psion netbook
2003 - Netbook Pro is released (doesn't seem to be for sale anymore, it was a 'clamshell PDA')
2008 - Claimed genericization of the term netbook by Asus and others.
December 2008 - Psion sends cease and desist letters to a bunch of companies
Now - Dell retaliates, files court papers claiming that Psion is not planning on producing a product called a netbook (which is probably true, it's not really their target market, but they seem to like expanding so who knows).
The fact that the term in and of itself is generic may not be enough, after all we have apple computer, and apples are pretty common. It does look like it could be an expensive fight, and I would be surprised if Psion decides to fight it out to the end. IANAL
Qxe4
Can you really make someone not talk about your product on a blog? Simply using the word netbook on your blog can get you in trouble?
THL phish sticks
I know, it always happens. I say something honest and insightful, then somebody who has an agenda will mark my comment a Troll, and then I will make a comment about the biased and unfair moderation, which will in turn be down moderated. It's a treadmill. When will Moderators stop acting like corporations and start acting mature.
It's come quickly, but I think it's too late; the term "netbook" is now in common use as a generic term, which invalidates trademarks. Now excuse me, I gotta put the milk back in the fridge.
NETBOOK NETBOOK NETBOOK
So sue me.
"asking them to stop using the term netbook"
Not really sure how that's supposed to work.
I'm guessing that was moderated as "Troll" simply because there is no option to flag it as "Moronic"
It's pretty easy to claim your own arguments are honest and insightful. Perhaps There Is No Cabal.
Perhaps because your original comment was inflammatory nonsense and clearly deserves a downmodding? And perhaps because complaining about a downmodding serves no purpose and nobody else cares, and so it also deserves a downmodding?
Why the hell did Dell have to be the voice of reason here?
I netbook think netbook that netbook Psion netbook has netbook a netbook valid netbook claim. netbook They netbook clearly netbook deserve netbook the netbook exclusive netbook use netbook of netbook the netbook term netbook "netbook" netbook. It netbook is netbook a netbook mis-justice netbook for netbook bloggers netbook and netbook computer netbook manufacturers netbook to netbook so netbook callously netbook use netbook their netbook important netbook trademark netbook.
FYI, it's generally accepted there are five different categories of trademark, each more defensible than the next. The least most defensible mark is a "descriptive" mark. Like "facial tissue." Had the Kleenex brand chosen "Facial Tissue[tm]" for their mark, they may well have lost control of the mark because generic terms cannot function as trademarks.
We all call them Kleenex, but they are facial tissues. If someone had tried to trademark 'facial tissue' we would be in the same ballpark here.
The most defensible mark is a fanciful one, that is a word which does not otherwise exist (Kodak, Xerox, Pepsi, etc). Afaik, Kleenex actually is the best possible name one could choose to associate with tissues, since it is entirely fanciful (and Kleenex company has done a good job associating their name with tissues). As an aside, it is possible for a diluted mark to lose its protected status (such as with Bayer's "Aspirin" analgesic).
These marketing people might as well start trying to trademark things like 'desk' 'pen' or 'screen'.
Netbook would probably fall under the "Suggestive" trademark category (the third most defensible category, behind Arbitrary and Fanciful). Net and Book both exist as words, but were previously not widely applied to this sort of device.
So, in conclusion, "Netbook" is nothing like "pen" or "desk," as far as trademarks go. Neither of these examples would even be registerable, unless they were referring to something they weren't (you could make a ketchup product called "DESK" or a cell phone called "PEN").
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Psion only is bothering to do this for publicity. Honestly I had never heard of psion before this nonsense started. I mean, what else would propel them to make this infringement claim? They dont plan on using the term for any products, and they probably cant beat the mighty army of dell lawyers that they will be washed in.
It would be hilarious if they would actually come out with an Atom-powered Netbook, just to prove Dell wrong.
As a mature moderator, I'd mod down both posts for your bitching about moderation.
Grow up.
It's been a long time.
There, fixed that for ya.
Hmmm. couldn't get my strikethrough html with to work. anyone know why?
Psion then lost it IMO, they pulled out of the consumer market and the successor to the netBook, the netBook Pro, ran WinCE rather than EPOC - yuck.
Anyway, they still sell netBook related kit, if not the machines themselves.
http://www.psionteklogix.com/public.aspx?s=uk&p=AccessoryCatalogue&pMod=48&page=1&aCat=37&aID=1714
How did Dell suddenly become the computing term trademark police? Just a few months ago, they were trying to trademark "cloud computing"!
http://www.computing.co.uk/vnunet/news/2224228/dell-cloud-claim-struck
Puh-leeze!
Some moderators must really be in a foul mood today--it seems nearly everything's being labeled as "Offtopic." I think your question is valid since most people who skimmed the posting might be compelled to wonder the same thing (and this is Slashdot, after all, so no one's going to bother reading the article, right?).
What I'm curious about is why Psion waited so long to start sending out notices. I always thought that if a company felt it had reasonable grounds for defensibility with regards to a trademark, they wouldn't sit on their hands for months at a time. It's almost as if they were waiting to see how well netbooks performed in the market before deciding it was time to vie for a cut of the profits (probably via lawsuits). It's a conspiratorial notion, sure, but in this day and ages where patent trolling firms sit on mountains of paperwork vaguely describing some generic mechanism without any capacity for manufacturing the product on their own, sue others who "infringe," and then make their profits from settlements or royalties... it's not too far fetched!
He who has no
hypocritically post... lifelong pussy... NIGGER
And yet you're posting as AC.
Source, if the link evaporates, search TESS for Netbook, its serial number 75215401
PROTIP: TESS links expire, but each TESS result has a persistent link under the "TARR Status" button. See TARR: Serial #75215401
weebit cites Psion for Trade Mark fraud, citing Trademark Act Section 23 and Trademark Act Section 14 including also 808 F 2d 46, 1 USPQ2d 1483 of the Federal Court (1986). Lastly telling of fibs will get your mouth washed out with soap or worse!
/sarcasm with a (attempt) at a wee bit of humor.
Please sign here: X__________________________ press hard....eight copies.
Psion manifests Ego Whip against Dell and augments it with 16 power points. Dell fails its saving throw, taking 14 points of charisma damage and falling unconcious.
Come on, I can't believe nobody else has said that yet.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
It's unfortunate the Save the Netbooks campaign was not credited in the summary (nor many of the resulting articles) for uncovering Dell's petition to cancel (note that the linked document is in our account), even if only because we have the most complete collection of information and research on the topic.
We've been working hard over the last days to overturn Psion's trademark and it was actually in the course of filing the petition to cancel that we discovered Dell had beaten us to it by a day! We're happy they're playing the white knight this time (after last year's "cloud computing" claim), and especially for their having added the "fraud" angle to our pleadings for abandonment and genericness.
Anyway we wish them the best of luck, even though we don't think they'll need it.
Save the Netbooks
The word/term/product (whatever) netbook is commonly referred to as an under-powered and rather featureless notebook--albeit with lower power consumption and longer battery life.
In the short term Intel may release their stranglehold on the use of the Atom processor exclusively with their own chip set: the 945g, and allow Nvidia to sell their already completed 9400M with the Intel Atom. This is another legal battle entirely. ~_~ However the 9400M does use more power, and do not forget that VIA also offers the Nano, which also uses more power but outdoes the Atom on media intense applications that demand a stronger floating-point processor.
What does this mean? (op)
A long term outlook does not look good for the Netbook. The primary reasons why one would purchase a Netbook are narrowed by size, battery life, and style. The point, if graphed, where size and power consumption meet performance and features will be ever lowered until the term Netbook becomes nothing but a semantic, oh wait, it already is.
Psion, for over a decade, sold cool PDAs that were well ahead of their time and very useful. Then Windows CE came along, Psion ran away and Windows CE almost totally abandoned the keyboarded PDA concept. That's why we've had a five year gap, followed by a line of machines that badly implement the concept with X86 processors and XP or Linux. It's good Psion have noticed this. But they have done the wrong thing. Notable examples of Psion wonderfullness: AA battery compatibility, programming language on-board, basic office suite, communications support. Given this was in 1990 - that's cool. And it was all in a package half the size of a book. Now we have 'netbooks' that are just small laptops...
I hear more than usually, netbooks referred to "minilaptops". I try to use "netbook" if needed officially, but the "minilaptop" does sound nicer.
And when I searched littlebit around Internet, I found that there has always be a computer class called "Sub-notebook". And that is class where actually the "netbook" goes. You can find computers from toshiba and others, from 90's what are smaller than current netbooks sold, but ain't called netbooks but sub-notebooks. And they run Windows 95 or Windows 98 (newer models) easily.
So what happend when I first saw the Asus EeePC, that it is just resurecting the old Class, I tought they should get better name than "netbook". And for me the sub-notebook does sound better in the techinical view and "minilaptop" in daily talk.
Well done. You've now promoted this offensive post, just like the OP wanted.
While the trademark is older, it is cleary the Psion Netbook that implemented the actuall concept. And implemented it very well actually - Psion Netbooks have/had a lightweight OS (Epoc for Netbook) a custom browser and a own Java 1.1 implementation back when Java was really new. The enclosure and the keyboard are to date unmatched. Their battery uptime was around 40 hrs.
The pure and simple fact is this: Psion concepted, built and trademarked the first Netbook. Period.
That aside, I find this lawsuit totally silly, it will probably fail. And rightfully so. They should simply build an upgrade of the original Netbook in the very same enclosure with the very same keyboard, put Xubuntu on it and center their marketing around how they built the first Netbook in 1999 and how the concept has become so popular. Tagline "The inventors of the Netbook present: The Netbook 2.0" or something of the sorts. They would get huge press and attention. And the Psion Netbook really does deserve a redo.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
After World War I, the Bayer trademarks in the U.S. were reincarnated in a new company, confusingly also called Bayer, owned by the American firm Sterling Drug. They attempted to enforce the trademarks, but a 1921 court ruling invalidated the "aspirin" mark on grounds that it had come to be used as a generic term for the class of drugs for too long to be recaptured.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
i am going to assume that you are trying to say that Italians were neutral on average...but unfortunately the same could be said for most countries involved in a war of aggression.
in the prelude to the war Italy invaded Ethiopia. they were allied with Germany all along the way, even before the formation of the Axis. at the outbreak of the war they invaded France and declared war on England. tried to invade Greece. occupied France. mucked around in East Africa.
these are not the actions of a "neutral" country. this is offtopic as hell, but i wanted to correct you in the off chance you are not a willful historical revisionist.
NOT EVERYONE calls tissues Kleenex. Who doesn't? Companies that are NOT called Kleenex that produce tissues. You may call the generic tissues Kleenex but the manufacturer sure as hell doesn't. I never seen any mention of the word "xerox" on a non-xerox copier. You might, every other person might BUT not the maker of the copier.
Psion is NOT complaining that EVERYONE calls small laptops netbooks, the complaint is that Dell is calling THEIR small laptops netbooks.
Wether netbook is a valid trademark is another question, but your argument about Kleenex is null and void.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Sorry, I missed your point. The sound of the "poor me I'm such an oppressed victim" was drowning everything else out.
It's been a long time.
I've had some personal reasons for not liking Dell in the past, but I am glad they are fighting Psion.
Psion is a poor company and they only care about the name for publicity's sake.
If I'd meant that, I'd have written that. You fail at mindreading . Italy spent half the war on the axis side and half on the allied side, roughly. If you'd ever left Berlin you'd know that jokes about this subject are quite common in Britain. I won't bother explaining what jokes are - look it up.
When I need correcting I'll ask, but I'll ask someone who's up to the job. Don't wait up, asshat.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."