Whuh oh. Looks like every utterance of the word "netbook" might come under fire from Psion Technologix, makers of such fine blast-from-the-past products as the Revo, seen here (and owned by yours truly).
Apparently one of the devices that Psion developed was called the Netbook (there was also the Netbook Pro) and, as such, the company trademarked the name "Netbook" back in the earlier part of the decade, according to JKontheRun.
Now it seems "that some enthusiast sites are getting ‘cease & desist’ letters from a firm in the UK ordering the sites to stop using the term ‘netbook’" with demands that the phrase be removed by March of 2009.
I’m no lawyer, but this sounds like a company that’s running out of money trying to finesse the legal system. I seriously doubt that using the term "netbook" is threatening the profits of a company that doesn’t even make consumer electronics devices any more, instead shifting to industrial electronics.
At any rate, it’s a good thing we NEVER use that term here at CrunchGear.
Come on Psion, get a life! I guess it’s a case of another ‘Crap’ of marketeers feeding their Legal team.
http://kitcandy.com/2008/12/aniboom-and-the-extinction-of-marketeers/
The Funny thing is, I remember liking the REVO devices when I got to play with one back in the day…
…back in my days of selling PDAs and Cellphones. I still prefer my Casio E125 though. :P
Cease & desist? Comeon, has anybody recieved a letter from Xerox to stop using their trademark every time they photocopy something? Or Kleenex? Or Zipper?
Nobody’s selling anything as “Netbook”, people are just using the name as a generic term.
This is as ridiculous as Psystar sueing Apple.
Who knows what psion is up to. Perhaps they are planning on releasing their own netbook and want to reclaim the name?
They could not do anything