NETBOOK Trademark Dispute Settles
By: CARRIE L. ROSENBERRY
June 2009
An agreement has been reached in the dispute over the term NETBOOK. See Is NETBOOK a Trademark, or Can Anyone Use the Term for Small, Inexpensive Computers?, March 2009 Trademark Topics.SM Psion Teklogix, Inc., which held a U.S. trademark registration for the term, has agreed to withdraw its trademark registration and to waive any claims it might have against third-parties for past, present, and future uses of NETBOOK.
The dispute began in late 2008, when Psion sent letters to various computer manufacturers and retailers asking them to stop using the term NETBOOK to describe small, inexpensive laptop computers. Soon after, Psion was successful in banning purchases of the term “netbook” from advertisement through Google’s Adwords program.
Dell responded to a Psion cease and desist letter by filing a petition to cancel Psion’s NETBOOK trademark registration in an administrative action at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Intel, which operates the website netbook.com, went a step further by filing a complaint in federal court seeking cancellation of the trademark registration.
On June 1, 2009, Psion announced that Psion and Intel had reached an amicable agreement to settle the trademark cancellation and infringement litigation. Under the terms of the agreement, Psion would withdraw its trademark registration and cease enforcement of its claimed rights. Neither party accepted liability. Financial terms, if any, were not disclosed.
On May 29, Psion officially conceded its rights in the NETBOOK registration before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, by voluntarily cancelling its trademark registration.
While details surrounding the settlement negotiations are unknown, Psion’s questionable rights in the NETBOOK mark likely led to this result. Psion was not actually using the term NETBOOK on any of its products when this dispute arose. The term quickly became popular among those in the tech industry to refer to inexpensive laptop computers, which led some to argue that the term was generic and incapable of trademark protection. Psion’s failure to both use and timely enforce its rights to the NETBOOK mark likely sealed the fate of this trademark registration.