This appears to be a significant step forward for Psion in their quest to recover and protect their ‘netbook’ brand and a massive consideration for those running their business in this sector. According to Psion, Google have researched and accept that the ‘netbook’ name belongs to Psion and are going to ban the use of it in adverts. The news comes from JKontherun.
…Today Psion let us know that Google has investigated the trademark claim and determined that “netbook inch is indeed a protected trademark. Google does these investigations as they are impacted when they run ads on their network. The determination by Google that the term “netbook inch is duly registered and protected has prompted them to inform their ad customers that the term can no longer be used in Google ads.
Im sure the OEMs will be pressuring Intel to get this resolved as soon as possible. Bloggers too. What about the tens, possibly hundreds of websites that have put huge effort into the netbook keyword? What about the ones that use ‘netbook’ in their site name? We contacted Sascha Pallenberg of netbooknews.de for his instant reaction….
“I am shocked. 50% of my ad income comes through Google and i definately have a problem now. I am gonna try to get some reactions of the taiwanese “Netbook” manufacturers after the weekend”
