Last week, OSNews received an interesting email from a German attorney. It informed us that a company called Smartbook AG has a trademark in several countries to the term "Smartbook" and admonished us (semi-threateningly) not to use the term for anything but his client's company's products. Our first reaction was, "huh?" But a quick search reminded us that several companies, most notably Qualcomm, have started referring to low-power mini-notebooks as smartbooks. It turns out that OSNews, and many other news sources, have been caught in a trademark dispute between Smartbook AG and Qualcomm. This prompted me to do a little research on trademark law.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-12-06
On the website of our study association, we mentioned another club and their location: the Portakabin next to a particular building.
Apparently, Portakabin was fearing for their brand of temporary, modular, movable "buildings" to become generic as well. So we got an email from an expensive sounding law firm, informing us of the trademark situation, and essentially forbidding us to use the name Portakabin for that particular location. It came complete with a large list of alternatives, some rather disparaging (like shed).
The kicker: that particular accommodation was actually the genuine article! It even prominently featured the name of the manufacturer.
So we promptly changed the wording on our website to a less flattering one, replied to the law firm that we would comply, included a link to the updated article, and cc-ed an address at Portakabin's domain 
.
Not that we ever got a reaction, but the remaining 6 months that shed stood there, I always smiled with glee when I passed it by.
Member since:2008-05-26
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haha ;-)
Member since:
2005-11-10
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Member since:
2006-10-10
Member since:
2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-11-02
A smartbook is a small laptop or a large phone. Sorry, guys, it's too obvious to be trademarkable. Enjoy your ill gotten gains if you can, then please die in a fire.
You know how you *really* make "smartbook" mean only your company? Make a damned fine product that dominates the market.
Member since:
2006-05-10
Member since:
2005-07-11
What is a "smartbook"? Is it an electronic book? Is it an ebook reader? Is it something else? The term is beyond ambiguous.
Same with "netbook" and "nettop". These terms have absolutely no relation to the actual device capablities or form factors.
Cell phone -> Smart phone -> PalmTop -> Laptop -> Desktop
Can it get any simpler?
Member since:
2007-10-13
So, this german company has sold computers under the name "SmartBook" since 2006. Bah, they are way, way too late. A norwegian computer vendor named Cinet sold laptops under the Smartbook name long before that. Google "Cinet smartbook" if you will.
Example : (in Norwegian) a test of the Cinet SmartBook 1200, written in 2003:
http://www.dinside.no/90275/cinet-smartbook-1200
Edited 2009-12-18 03:00 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
