14 DAY TRIAL // Since early June this year, the market for portable computer systems has expanded with the introduction of a new form factor and device, better known as smartbook. These ARM-based computer systems have been designed as alternatives to the vastly popular netbooks, which typically run on an Intel processor coupled with a Windows operating system. On that note, it looks like the term smartbook, which was introduced by Qualcomm to define the aforementioned device type, is essentially a trademark. What this means is that the trademark and copyright of the term belong to a company that has recently decided to legally pursue those who make use of the term.
According to a recent post on netbooknews.com, a German company called Smartbook AG has decided to pursue legal action against those who make use of the term “smartbook,” to which it holds the copyright and trademark rights. The move, which resembles that of Psion and its action against those using the term netbook, is apparently targeted at bloggers and websites that use the term to report the news, rather than going for companies such as Freescale, ARM and Qualcomm, which use this term to market some of their latest products.
Through a letter that has been addressed to the owner of both netbooknews.com and its German version, Smartbook AG gives an ultimatum, saying that the webmaster has two weeks to get rid of the term on both sites. What is interesting about this, is that the netbooknews.com website is located in the US, where German laws have no jurisdiction.
A bit of digging around shows that Smartbook AG is a company that specializes in sales of portable computer systems, most of which are designed on Intel processors and are targeted at different types of users, including gaming, business and lifestyle enthusiasts. It will be interesting to see how things will develop and whether Smartbook AG will share the same fate as those over at Psion.