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Wednesday December 24, 2008
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 Another sign that trademark and copyright law is completely out of hand: Psion Teklogix, a company that once made a failed product called the netBook, is sending cease-and-desist orders to Web site owners who write about the modern-day crop of mini-notebook we all call netbooks.
Psion's letter (viewable at JK on the Run) claims trademark of the name in the United States, the EU, Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The company doesn't make its netBook anymore--it hasn't for years--but still makes accessories. The original netBook was actually a lot like a modern netbook (sorry, mini-notebook!) with a QWERTY keyboard and flip up screen, but wouldn't have run Windows 98 let alone XP. They were based on either Windows CE or a version of the Symbian OS, which Psion created and later rolled out to phones.
Will a bunch of C&D letters stop use of the term? Maybe for a few innocent Web site owners who don't have the money to defend against corporate lawyers. But the genericization of the term is too far along for this to get much headway. Psion can cry in their beer over it with Kleenex, Band-Aid, and Xerox.
Just in case, Technologizer is already looking for new terms just in case. My suggestions: negligi-books or pygmy-tops.
Posted By:
Eric Griffith
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December 24, 2008 12:39 PM
A lot of this trademark, copyright, patent crap is just well... crap! We should go back to the original intent... (come on.... royalties still being paid on the song "happy birthday"....
You know.... I think one of my kids once called my H89 a "Window"... (maybe it was "windows")... Look out Bill.... I'm going to sue!
(bah-humbug and a pox on all ya greedy scurvy bast's)
December 24, 2008 4:35 PM
Dear Psion:
Netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook netbook.
PS: netbook
December 24, 2008 5:01 PM
Psion is doing nothing wrong. This is perfectly moral and legal behavior on their part. They invented the term Netbook and are entitled to keep it as a trademark as long as they want.
Psion still uses the term in commerce and thus they still hold legal ownership under U.K. and international trademark law. No different from Apple's continued ownership of PowerBook. "Netbook" is Psion's property and if you're griping about it you're being hypocritical -- unless you are willing to give up your own intellectual property without a fight.
The right thing for all of us to do is to simply switch to another term. Netbook is inaccurate in any case. The salient feature of these devices is not their network connectivity -- every notebook has that. It's their miniature size. These devices are all about the dimensions of the defunct palmtop form factor (sold by IBM, Sony, Acer, etc). Those did _not_ have much in the way of network ability, so a natural and more accurate name for these new devices is netpalmtop.
December 24, 2008 7:10 PM
Mel, if you don't work for Psion (or if you do), you are retarded.
Netpalmtop, that rolls right off the tongue!
ass.
December 24, 2008 7:32 PM
I don't see how this Another sign that trademark and copyright law is completely out of hand. Psion is sending C&D letters, not winning court cases over the term. You can't blame the law when people act like jackasses.
December 24, 2008 11:03 PM
Now now Aaron - oftentimes C&D letters are used to bully people into behaving a certain way whether they're breaking the law or not. In many cases, for a development house or group that doesn't want to spend money on a court battle, a C&D letter is easier to simply bow to than to fight back against. The fact that current copyright law even allows companies to use C&D letters as bullying tactics is definitely indicative that there's a problem.
December 24, 2008 11:32 PM
Did you read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Netbook
The First and Original defination of netbook is defined in by Psion, you should respect that.
A typical netbook is
1) Small (less than 8 inches)
2) LONG Battery (typically 8 - 10 hours)
3) Does the basic chores (browsing, simple word processing etc)
However, today manufacturers misuse the term and should stop using it. Their so called netbooks are actually LOW END Laptops without optical drive LOW BATTERY LIFE (I HATE THIS) the battery life is miserable 2 - 4 hours NOTHING CLOSE TO WHAT MY PSION netBook had ....
By the way these so called NETBOOKS and can do much more than what's defined as real NETBOOK!!!!!.... which is nice but at what cost??????? 1000 $$$$$$ LOL
Here is a quote from Wikipedia
December 25, 2008 3:57 PM
Well, I guess Psion has the legal trademark for "Netbook". In that case, other businesses cannot simply use this term without prior consent from Psion. However, non business people can use this term regardless. So I'll call netbook a netbook but I'll make sure Psion doesn't make a single cent out of this term, and for any other future product they decide to sell. As for the new "netbooks" we can start referring to them as Micro-notebooks. It's "Micro" because it's smaller than "Mini" notebooks which are the 10"-12" panel.
December 26, 2008 5:25 PM
Don't they call them netbooks because they're not good for anything more demanding than web surfing?
I suppose we could call them "officebooks" to acknowledge their simple productivity app niche, but imagine the hissyfit from Microsoft. :)
December 27, 2008 11:03 PM
I Think your all missing the point here.
No one cares...
December 28, 2008 4:58 PM
You wrote:-
"Psion Teklogix, a company that once made a failed product called the netBook"
Not correct. Psion made a most successful range of small computers with the netBook as their top of the range product.
It never was a "failed product". Psion however as a company stopped trading when it's inventor and owner decided to sell it's OS. That made him more money than continuing to run a manufacturing company.
My Psion netBook is still in regular daily use despite being a decade old. Unlike computers with the Windows OS, it is very stable, start up time is one second and has a battery life of 6 hours on it's very old battery. If I had a choice of only having one computer, then it would be my Psion netBook.
Mr Potter also sold the rights of the netBook to Teklogix. Unfortunately they chose to make the netBook Pro with a Windows OS. This less successful version of the netBook continued into the current newer products.
In it's day, the original netBook was more advanced than contemporary products than today's similar products.
December 28, 2008 5:16 PM
Can some one explain how this is any different to any portable cd player being called a 'diskman' which is a term owned by sony?
December 30, 2008 12:20 PM
My suggestions:
IUSDBSWIWAC (incredibly-usesless-shrinky-dink-book-style-wishes-it-was-a-computer)
Flotsam-book
Clam-book
I have a friend that I just educated yesterday that you still have to buy a wireless service for these things and he was more than a bit incensed. He is not technical, but he thought there were more to these small paperweights than is actually present.
December 30, 2008 12:27 PM
No one mentioned 'laptot' which is a term I came across recently...
December 30, 2008 12:48 PM
Psion now claims it is only trying to stop netbook makers from using the term in ads... http://www.liliputing.com/2008/12/psion-explains-its-trademark-position-probably-wont-sue-me.html
December 30, 2008 4:06 PM
I think that if netbook is a universally used term, it will take a long time to fix: nothing. It won't destroy thier buisness, they won't all die, nothing will happen. There is no problem in the first place. It doesn't matter! Take Kleenex, for example, are they a dying buisness? Heck no! They're quite successful. I never herd of the netBook, so it won't hurt the company's sales. Nobody cares!
Then again, netbook isn't the best term, because it isn't just for Internet. I think ULPC(UltraLight Personal Computer) is a better term