Bloggers can’t use trademarked smartbook term claims company

Well it was probably a matter of time, but Germany company Smartbook AG has claimed that they own the ‘smartbook’ term and is requesting bloggers to remove this term from their websites. Sascha from NetbookNews received a letter from the company asking them to do exactly that.

If this sounds familiar, then the same thing happened when Psion was disputing the ‘netbook’ trademark with Intel. That particular dispute ended amicably, when Psion voluntarily withdrawn all of its trademark registrations for the ‘netbook’ term.

Qualcomm, an ARM-based chip manufacturer originally came up with the smartbook term to describe a family of devices that are based on ARM chips, are always connected to the internet and have all day battery life.

It is unknown at this stage, whether Smartbook AG has taken their claim directly to Qualcomm. It is also unknown whether Smartbook AG is taking up the fight with bloggers outside Germany. Sascha is so far standing tall and one of the links highlighted in the infringement letter, still has the smartbook term intact.

We have not had heard anything so far here in the UK, but it could be a matter of time. Either way, I don’t expect much to come of this to be honest and the company could simply be using this as a tool for greater marketing exposure.