Psion says Intel 'unjustly enriched' by Netbook

Psion Teklogix has answered Intel's claims regarding the chipmaker's right to use the term "Netbook." The Canadian company claims that Intel is being "unjustly enriched" by unauthorized use of the trademark.

Psion Teklogix Netbook Pro

(Credit: Psion Teklogix)

Last week, Intel filed for a declaratory judgment against Psion Teklogix, claiming that the the term "netbook" is a "widely used generic term that describes a class of affordable computing devices, much like the term 'notebook' or 'ultra-mobile PC,'" Intel said in a statement last week.

Not surprisingly, Psion had a firm response: "Intel has acted willfully and maliciously, has unlawfully attempted to trade on the tremendous commercial value, reputation and goodwill of the NETBOOK mark," Psion said in a court filing in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California.

Ironically, Psion lists a product called "Netbook Pro" as discontinued on its Web site. It describes the product as having the "virtues of a larger laptop device such as a large screen, full keyboard and multiple communications ports."

Psion did not use the Netbook trademark on laptop computers for five consecutive years following the date of registration in 2000--apparently a legal requirement--mostly because Psion's mobile computers did not succeed in the market and were discontinued, according to Intel.

Psion denies its discontinued selling laptop computers under the mark netbook in approximately 2003, as Intel alleges. In October 2003, Psion launched the Netbook Pro laptop computer and denies that sales of the Netbook Pro have been discontinued.

In the filing, Psion lists retail sales (in dollars) of laptop computers "under Psion's NETBOOK mark" in the U.S. from 1999 to the present. For example, in 2005 Psion cites sales of netbooks at $1,709,433, in 2006 sales were $2,073,207, and in 2007, Psion says retail sales were $586,680.

Psion Teklogix was formed in 2000 when Teklogix merged with Psion PLC, a U.K. company which made handheld "organizers" in the 1980s and 1990s whose tiny clamshell design resembled the smallest Netbooks offered today.

The company is also demanding a jury trial.

[docparkny]

This is all terribly sad. At one point, Psion was the only manufacturer to create the box (Psion Series 5) and the operating system (EPOC OS), but gave up the ghost when faced with turbulence at the end of the dot.com boom. What they had in the original netbook was the absolute best combination of form factor and operating system with the technology available at that time. By giving the OS away to Symbian and giving up on consumer electronics, Psion basically gave up on early smartphones, leaving it to Treo and others. But what really killed them was Microsoft -not in its dominance this time, but in the suckiness of Windows CE on clamshell PDA's. People saw these more frequently -horrible lookalike, crash alike failures from Casio, HP, NEC, and others, and rarely saw the British jewels created by Psion, that people assumed all clamshell PDA's just sucked.

Palm almost died this death by Windows Mobile (CE), and is just escaping (maybe) with their new OS and Pre phone.

What netbooks should be are what the first netbook by Psion promised to be: instant on, portable, wireless, great keyboard, 8-10hrs battery, and instant off. Windows is again killing the category by proving to everyone that a netbook is just a really small and barely usable Windows laptop. Runs acceptably well with XP and not so great with VISTA, but hey, you get what you pay for -so goes Microsoft thinking.

netbooks should do what the Nokia 810 achieves and what iPhone maddeningly dances around -true portable internet appliance. The clamshell formfactor needs a hero, but not one that boots up Vista like the Fujitsu 820, or costs over $2000 like the Sony UX50 UMPC. Psion shouldn't be suing, but updating its Revo with a color screen, Li battery, Wifi, and maybe a phone, using Linux or EPOC 6.0. It should offer an updated, wireless, Series 5mx. And simply put, if they merely offered their netbook Pro, which they sucked up and failed by using Windows CE, by updating with built in wireless and a working Linux and sold it for $500 to $700, they would sell these hand over fist.

I've been bellyaching about this on my blog entries below:
http://golfism.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/top-12-features-not-yet-found-on-any-one-netbook/

http://golfism.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/the-netbook/

http://golfism.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/the-protonetbook/

http://golfism.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/12-things-i-hate-about-iphone/

[slickuser]

Intel called a "category" of notebooks as netbooks. They did not sell any
Intel branded notebooks as "netbooks".

psian's claim is wrong and looks like they are after $$$$

[forever4now]

Independent of the outcome of this trademark case, Psion Teklogix should consider refreshing the hardware of their Netbook Pro and offering it with Android. Everyone else is getting into this market and the Netbook Pro already has many of the important attributes: attractive compact design, touchscreen, long battery life, etc.

Since Android is expected to become a significant OS in the mobile computing space, attaching themselves to it early could provide them a significant boost in visibility & product sales.

[hammeroftruth]

Intel has a lot of money. They should just pull an Apple and buy a license to use the phrase "netbook" and then have all the manufacturers buy a license as well. Hey it worked for Cisco, they licensed "iPhone" to Apple and are raking in the cash.

[Button Boy]

Psion ran out of ideas, so in come the lawyers.