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Trademarks And Netbooks
from the which-way-do-we-go dept
I've been considering buying myself a "netbook" recently -- the mini-notebook computers that have become quite popular in the last year or so. As was recently discussed, such mini-notebooks have been around for years, but have finally figured out how to hit that right sweetspot that makes them worth buying in large numbers. I'd been following the various products on the market to try to figure out which one to get, but I realized recently that I had no idea where the whole "netbook" classification had come from. The Asus EeePC got plenty of attention when it launched about a year ago, and then there were plenty of follow up machines -- and somewhere along the line they all got lumped into the "netbook" category.
There's one company that isn't pleased at all: Psion.
For mobile computing geeks -- especially those in Europe, the Psion netBook was quite well known for years in the early part of this decade, as offering a pretty decent tiny computer, that (for whatever reason) never was much of a hit in the US. Either way, Psion gave up on the product somewhere along the way, but retains the trademark on the name, and caused a bit of a stir last week by sending out some cease and desist letters about the use of the term, noting (correctly) that it owned the trademark. There was some confusion over reports that some of these letters went to blogs and enthusiast sites, but the lawyers representing Psion were quick to clarify that most of the letters were sent to manufacturers and retailers -- with just a few that went to sites that actively ran advertisements for "netbooks."
Psion is probably in the legal right here -- though, there's a decent chance that they're too late on stopping the netbook name from becoming generic. While Psion claims that it still sells accessories for netBooks, it really doesn't sell the actual netBooks any more, so going the legal route seems a bit pointless. Why not capitalize on the trend by trying to sell products for today's netbooks, while noting that it was the original netbook maker. Rather than trying to keep the term tied to a dead market, why not use the fact that Psion was an early player in the space to help build up its own cred in today's market? The strategy of trying to get the world to use a different name, while legally correct, just seems short-sighted overall.
There's one company that isn't pleased at all: Psion.
For mobile computing geeks -- especially those in Europe, the Psion netBook was quite well known for years in the early part of this decade, as offering a pretty decent tiny computer, that (for whatever reason) never was much of a hit in the US. Either way, Psion gave up on the product somewhere along the way, but retains the trademark on the name, and caused a bit of a stir last week by sending out some cease and desist letters about the use of the term, noting (correctly) that it owned the trademark. There was some confusion over reports that some of these letters went to blogs and enthusiast sites, but the lawyers representing Psion were quick to clarify that most of the letters were sent to manufacturers and retailers -- with just a few that went to sites that actively ran advertisements for "netbooks."
Psion is probably in the legal right here -- though, there's a decent chance that they're too late on stopping the netbook name from becoming generic. While Psion claims that it still sells accessories for netBooks, it really doesn't sell the actual netBooks any more, so going the legal route seems a bit pointless. Why not capitalize on the trend by trying to sell products for today's netbooks, while noting that it was the original netbook maker. Rather than trying to keep the term tied to a dead market, why not use the fact that Psion was an early player in the space to help build up its own cred in today's market? The strategy of trying to get the world to use a different name, while legally correct, just seems short-sighted overall.
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What happened to Psion?
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funny observations
on the topic of netbooks here are a couple of random funny observations i have made:
funny observation #1:
via releases it's open notebook reference design and coincidentally everyone gets into the netbook market over night: http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/spearhead/openbook
only these netbooks that have sprung up are based on intel's atom processor and are not of a very open design. that doesn't stop fans from building communities around the popular models (the EEE and the MSI wind most notably)
funny observation #2:
apple's conspicuous abscence from the netbook movement (the macbook air is the antithesis of a netbook from a price perspective) has lead to some folks taking matters into their own hands:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/15/realtek-employees-leak-os-x-wifi-drivers-for-the-msi-u100-win d
http://gizmodo.com/5109902/msi-encourages-hackintosh-leaks-os-x-wi+fi-drivers-for-the-wind
t he MSI wind, both the netbook variety, and the desktop eqivalent, which some refer to as a nettop, have made the hackintosh (OSX runing on non apple hardware) almost mainstream. it will be interesting to see if/how apple responds.
funny observation #3:
the most popular varieties of netbook are those with strong communities built around them, most notably the asus EEE and the MSI wind. coincidentally, these netbooks are not made by popular laptop manufacturers like dell or IBM (though both companies have netbooks available) but by taiwanese companies that are famous for making motherboards.
conventional wisdom says that companies with a history of making cheap laptops (compaq and acer most notably, but acer does make a fairly popular netbook) would dominate this space. makes you wonder what other possibilities can open up for companies that are willing to move a little bit outside their core competencies.
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Re: funny observations
That's what they said about the situation with the BBC and the "Doctor Who" copyright in the 1990s. You never know when a trademark will pick up.
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Re: Re: funny observations
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Re:
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Netbook is a portmanteau of Internet and Notebook...
Thus it is merely descriptive of a class of Internet native notebooks. To be enforceable a mark needs to act as a source identifier, which is to say that when you hear "netbook" you need to think "Psion" and obviously few of us do...
Read more at http://www.savethenetbooks.com/
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Re: netbook trademark
http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/notebooks/0,1000000333,39116901,00.htm
In 2003 NetBook was a product, not generic term.
This article makes me think Psion might have something of their own on the drawing board.
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Buying a netbook
Read the comments on newegg.com before making a purchase whilst thinking you can upgrade. This can save you a lot of time in the long run.
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Re: Buying a netbook
Well, duh! The term "Netbook" has become synonymous with "mobile-computing-as-an-appliance". It means a machine that does exactly what it says on the box - no more, no less, and there's little or no chance of upgrading. If you want to upgrade this is the wrong form factor for you.
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Re: Buying a netbook
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trademarks r us
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Only time will tell, but that time had better be soon lest it find itself on the losing end of trying to assert its trademark.
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Now on topic, i would think by now, "netbook" is more descriptive and generic than what Psion wants it to be, lets be honest, couple to 3 years ago it was a good name for a inovative product, now its just generic nothing more, if i where Psion i would re-introduce the netbook as the Netbook and unless another computer company tried to name theirs that as well, let it go and have everyone using my name to spread the word, it might cost them a couple of sales, but it should generate many many more.
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picturebook anyone
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I know that. You know that. But just because we know it doesn't mean everyone reading these forums *magically* knows it. Those that don't know can't read your mind. I posted that as general knowledge so people who didn't know it will know it if/when they decide to get one.
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Alternatives to "netbook"
Less-reverent terms from sites like The Inquirer and The Register are "laptot" and "kneetop". Both of which I find quite appealing. :)
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Re: Alternatives to "netbook"
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