Dell files for cancelation of Psion’s “netbook” trademark
The situation with Psion’s trademark defense of the term “netbook” has gotten a lot more interesting with Dell’s filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel Psion’s trademark. Dell is claiming that the trademark should be canceled due to Psion’s abandonment of the “netbook” trademark, as they have no products based on it. Dell’s second reason given for canceling the trademark is most interesting as they claim Psion engaged in fraud regarding the trademark. In the petition filed with USPTO, Dell states that in 2006, Psion claimed they had been using the “netbook” trademark for five consecutive years, a claim Dell rejects. Finally, Dell believes the trademark should be canceled due to the “genericness” of the term as it’s come to be used.
Finally! I was expecting Best buy to do this because they are selling so many of them!
It only takes one… we actually discovered their filing while preparing one of our own! The legal eagles at Dell spotted the fraud angle too which makes for a juicy headline (if an unnecessary addition when you’ve got obvious genericide).
So far as we’re concerned this is a done deal. Aside from cleaning up stuff like the AdWords ban and a few other bits and pieces we’re declaring victory and moving on.
Save the Netbooks
way to go dell!
Does anybody else find it amusing that Dell is the company who recently tried (unsuccessfully) to trademark “cloud computing”?
It’s kind of ironic, yes.