Pawn site
In the TRO section of Smartbook AG's website covering this matter - www.smartbook.info - is the following paragraph: "Qualcomm Inc. as well as Qualcomm CDMA are not authorized to use without approval of the Smartbook AG the character sequence 'Smartbook' in all notations in association with mobile computers - such as laptops (notebooks) - in the context of business communications expressed in technically retrievable Internet offers in the area of the Federal Republic of Germany without providing information that in the region of the Federal Republic of Germany any usage of the sign 'Smartbook' in association with mobile computers is exclusively reserved to the SMARTBOOK AG."
In short, the TRO applies to Qualcomm and still permits the use of the term smartbook in reference to mini-notebooks as long as you acknowledge Smartbook AG has exclusive rights to the term in Germany.
This is how the Qualcomm statement concludes: "Since Smartbook AG's action against Qualcomm, it has been seeking to register "smart" trademarks in other countries. The European Union and other countries have rejected these efforts on the grounds that the term "smartbook" is generic.
"Smartbook AG has also publicly stated it would sell the rights to the registered German trademark. Presumably, the campaign to expand the trademark registrations and the attempts to force journalists and others not to use the term are attempts to increase the sales value of the trademark."
As ever, it will be down to the lawyers to resolve this matter, but here at HEXUS - where our sole aim is to inform our readers about the world of technology - we resent being used as a pawn in the dispute. We just hope this isn't the start of a growing trend.
*In the region of the Federal Republic of Germany any usage of the sign 'Smartbook' in association with mobile computers is exclusively reserved to the SMARTBOOK AG.
