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Intel confirms end of Psion 'netbook' legal fight

Psion flees the scene

Updated Intel and Psion Teklogix have settled their legal battle over the ownership of the word 'netbook', the chip giant has confirmed.

An Intel spokesman told Register Hardware this morning that the two companies have worked out their differences.

That said, details of the out-of-court agreement reached by the pair have not been made public and neither firm has yet said what the terms underpinning the deal are. Has or will money change hands? For now, the parties are not saying one way or t'other.

In a statement, Psion said it "will voluntarily withdraw all of its trademark registrations for ‘Netbook’". It also agreed to "waive all its rights against third-parties in respect of past, current or future use of the ‘Netbook’ term".

Neither side accepted liability, it added.

Psion previously contended the use of the word because it registered the 'Netbook' trademark in the US when it launched its handheld computer of the same name there in the late 1990s. Psion stopped manufacturing the machine in 2003, but said it's been selling the thing ever since, racking up revenues of $13,650 as of March this year, down from a peak of just over $2m in 2006.

Intel's stance has always been that not only is Psion trademark invalid - because the Netbook Pro hasn't been in production since 2003 - but also that the claim that the machine is still selling in the US is a fib. It has always admitted to using the word 'netbook' generically, but maintained it never used it as it would a trademark.

To this day, Psion's US website lists the Netbook Pro among the company's "Discontinued Products". ®

Latest Comments

Looks like Psion won then

Given that no one is moaning, it looks like the small guy won, and handsomely too. this is the kind of response you always get when a big corp like MS or Intel pay off the people they've been brought to task by.

Well done Psion, shame you're not going to do anything useful with your winnings, such as make new PDAs and smartphones that work "properly"...

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@Andy

So is "Coke" but try using that in a commerical contect to related to a generic cola based drink and see how long before the Coca-Cola company have you wearing the gimp mask while they ride you shouting "Who's you daddy? Who's your daddy? Say it, Say it!".

KFC know what happens and the Colonel has been so-ridden.

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netbook. netbook. netbook. Am I in trouble now?

It's just a word, FFS. I don't care how much either party spends on lawyers, people are going to use it as they please.

In this case, my guess would be that if in five years time anyone still cares about small cheap laptops, they will all be called "netbooks".

In the same way that I call brown-bread-with-bits in "granary", even though that, too, is a copyrighted term.

I wish business would grow up.

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