(By Richard Holway 8.00pm 1st March 09) After I’d published my Dire Dell post last Friday, a reader brought this article – Dell battles over ‘Netbook’ name – from CNET to my attention. Basically it’s about Dell last week applying to the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the registered trademark for ‘Netbook’ which apparently is ‘owned’ by Psion. Given that the term is used as widely as laptop or PC, I must admit that I thought it was a generic term which could be freely used by all.
I’ve had a few trademark disputes in my time too. In 1989 I launched a monthly publication called SystemHouse (which ran until last year when Ovum killed it). In the early 1990s, I received a 'letter to desist' from SHL Systemhouse – a Canadian IT services company (which was later acquired by EDS). We resolved it amicably in the end – but not until a lot of fees had been spent. I have another possible dispute right now because I registered the URL http://www.wisegreyowl.com/ in 2002 and use it as my Twitter nom de plume. WiseGreyOwl Ltd are apparently not very happy but I think I have a very valid claim which predates their company by quite a few years.
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