Smartbook- Another Trademark Fight Coming?

The news that Psion and Intel have come to an amicable settlement to their “netbook” trademark fight was good to hear. The term “netbook” kind of snuck up on all of us who cover this stuff, and once it became widely used, it was only a matter of time before a trademark issue would arise. Psion had successfully trademarked “netbook” years ago, and it seems the standard practice is to defend your trademark or risk losing it.

We are just starting to see the term “smartbook” get used more frequently, and Qualcomm has adopted it to describe small laptops using its chips. This got me to thinking about another possible trademark fight down the road, so I decided to check to see if anyone has trademarked the “smartbook” name. It turns out that not only is the term trademarked, but by several different companies.

Smartbook trademark search

A quick search of official trademarks shows that there are 10 different “live” trademarks using the “smartbook” or “smartbooks” terms. These trademarks are not related to little laptops, but we know how companies are when it comes to protecting their turf. Could this come to bite Qualcomm and others down the road?

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