Psion Claims "netBook" Trademark; Google Abides
Is the term "netbook" now taboo?
Psion, the developer most famously remembers for its role in the birth of the Symbian OS currently used by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and a other mobile device manufactures, has gone on record to state that the term "netBook" is a trademark of its line of portable sub-notebooks. The Psion netBook and netBook Pro's has been discountinued since the early 2000's; however, this has not stopped the company from protecting its copyrighted product line.
In December 2008, jkOnTheRun first reported that Psion sent cease and desist letters to retailers and manufacturers of Netbook for reportedly using the term "Netbook" without permission and reaping the financial rewards. According to a written response from Psion to jkOnTheRun, it has been using the "netBook" trademark continuously since 1999.
But the most significant victory for Psion has to be that Google has acknowledged the term is indeed a registered trademark and will no longer allow its use in any Google advertisements. It is worth noting that many manufacturers of the modern netbook do not actually use the term "netbook" in its product description. Dell, Asus and HP never refers to their products as netbooks but rather by their own product name such as "Mini-Note," "Eee PC" or "Mini 9."
How much this news will affect the booming netbook market segment is unsure since the term "netbook" is fast becoming a generic term used to describe products in this user segment and not a particular product specifically. There is currently no word from Psion of whether or not a new netBook will be announced or released but according to its online store, accessories for the five year old devices can still be purchased.
The likelihood of Psion successfully stopping the use of its product name is good when looking at manufacturers; however, for the general public, the term netbook is likely here to stay.
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Three significant errors in the first paragraph - how sloppy can you get?
'remembers' should be 'remembered'
'and a other' should be 'and others', 'and another'?
'netBook Pro's has been' should be 'netBook Pro's have been'
@kyzarvs:
there shouldn't even be an apostrophe in "netBook Pros" and you didn't notice the mistake in "discontinued" either.
We're all annoyed with Tom's quality hitting the skids, but be careful beating the drum if you don't catch everything yourself otherwise complaints will go unheard (like they seemingly do anyway).