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Psion strikes back
PDA PIONEER Psion has hit back at Intel's claims that the Netbook belongs to the world saying that Chipzilla is trying to fool the public over the word.
Psion said it still uses the Netbook trademark it secured in the late 1990s, and said PC manufacturers, retailers and bloggers should stop using the term for low-cost, er, netbooks.
Intel and Dell have asked the courts to strip Psion of its trademark, claiming that the term has now become generic.
Psion said Intel just wants make money on the back of a name that Psion marketed in the 1990s.
The great unwashed will buy an Atom powered-machine thinking that it was a relative of the glorious 1990s PDA that even Psion gave up on.
Its defence was that Intel basically ignored the trademark and advertised and marketed until the term became generic.
It has added a cybersquatting claim, having registered the Netbook.com domain last September.
Psion said that it never abandoned its Netbook range and was still raking in $60,900 worth of sales last year.
It also wants a jury trial. µ
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Given that Psion don't sell products to consumers, and their corporate clients research the products they buy before rolling them out, I think what you're saying is highly unlikely.
Like you, the old Psion fans would love to see a new consumer device, be it a netBook or a palmtop, but I think realisticly we all know it's not going to happen. Psion got rid of their people, know-how, partnerships and distribution chains.
I open windows in Ubuntu and OSX! Sue Microsoft!
PS: I still prefer the term "crotchtop" rather than "netbook"!
Once upon a time, the generic term for vacuum cleaners, of whetever brand, was 'Hoover'.
And thereby lies a very cautionary tale that is better told at many other places on the Web.
There also used to be something called the 'IBM PC'.
Where have you been the last 20 years? never heard of Psion? You must never have read this site before then ;-)
Psion had Netbooks years ago.
Ian
PS. If you're British, it's 'defence'. If you had used a Psion Netbook it would have told you that ;-)
Here in Canada, the snowmobile was coined as a skidoo which was a brand name from a company that started to market snowmobiles. Each time I saw another brand of snowmobile from a different company, I just called it a skidoo.
Psion, no matter what they do, the public will react the way they do, it's not court cases or the outcome that dictates it.
The day courts push a public gag order of the sort will send trademark uttering underground by people whispering instead of talking normally making the whole world feel like a public library, er not so public on the other hand. Psst! "skidoo" pass it on.
was ignore the trademark Psion has. Maybe they can call their new atom based Netbooks - webpads.
...was let other companies turn their failed 'netbook' line into a household name. The big boys have done the advertizing, now Psion will bung together whatever they can, call it a 'netbook', and not let anyone use the name. Psion makes cash from uninformed consumers who want a 'netbook' and only find Psion's probucts have that name. IMO it is in the public's best interest for 'netbook' to be public domain.
Psion registered thir trademark in 1996, the mid-90s.
The more I think about this, the more I think Psion are being perfectly fair while Intel are trying to make them out to be the bad guy whilst coming across as full of sweet and love. Intel and Dell are multi-national multi-billion dollar companies.
Psion is just defending its rightful property. No one has provided a rational explanation as to why they're bad for defending it, or why even the fact that the netbook is listed as discontinued even matters. If someone released a new processor and called it a Pentium, Intel would soon sue them just like they're being sued by Psion.
I find it odd that people are siding with the big guy here. It's not as if Psion are being a patent troll or cyber squatter.
From what I understand Psion have stated they are not looking for money from Intel, they are simply asking that Intel respect their (Psions) trademark just as Psion respect Intel, Pentium, Core2 etc. etc. etc.
Intel are strong-arming Psion into giving up their lawfully owned trademark, pure and simple. Intel should just fark off and think of their own name rather than purloin someone elses.
Like so many others, this is a case of Psion hearing about a device being manufactured and marketed using the term "Netbook" to describe them, wait around to see if they are successful in the marketplace, then suing to make money off another vendor's success. Considering that Psion hasn't produced any relevant products since the 1990's, this is the quickest way to make money, assuming that they can prove Intel coined the term "Netbook" to describe the "mini-notebooks" built around the Atom Processor, chipsets, and motherboards. As far as I can tell, I've only heard that term in the media when reporting on these "mini-notebooks".
... just the sound of it. What THE HELL is wrong with 'mini-notebook'??? I tell ya, this is all Intel's fault, teh 1st time I ever heard of 'netfook' it was when Intel Atom was mentioned too. This company should PAY for misusing and misrepresenting a trademarked word. It would be just as if I used a "Core 2"* to describe some of my own microprocessor products. Not that I own any but you get the analogy.
*Or "786" or "Pentium 5" for that matter
Up until this lawsuit, I had never even heard of Psion. Part of the right to a trademark is that you must defend the trademark against dilution, otherwise it does become generic. Has Psion really been defending its trademark in good faith, or is it only because Dell and others are trying to have it ruled generic that it is now telling people that it is theirs?
I'm not a lawyer and trademark law is probably quite complicated, and also changeable, and different around the world. But if Psion has even a small amount of trade still going on "Netbook" devices -and- they trademarked it in the first place, I think they probably do still own it. But the catch may be that if they didn't jump up and send lawyers' letters as -soon- as we started hearing "netbook" to describe non-Psion computers, then by failing to defend properly, they could lose it. The other consideration is whether the term did come from Intel or from the grassroots, or from computer industry news media, etc. If Intel is actually not to blame for it.
But how would you like it if it was one of -your- business's trademarks - and if business wasn't going so well anyway?