Psion ends legal campaign against netbook makers

[Justin]

Intel and other notebook manufacturers have found themselves in the clear this week, with a recent legal issue coming to an end. Psion, owner of the netbook trademark, sought to capitalize on the popularity of netbooks through lawsuits, earning them a bit of fame in recent history for suing anybody who used the netbook name including companies like Intel and Dell. Now, despite Psion's demands for injunctions and compensation, they have agreed to drop their case and not sue anyone over the term again. Further, they've agreed to stop sending their cease and desist orders to the various companies that are manufacturing netbooks.

This is the result of an out of court settlement between Psion and Intel, after some vicious legal battles between the two. Both Intel and Dell had gone on the offensive after Psion threatened them. While details are sparse, it does seem that no netbook manufacturer will be accepting liability – and hence Psion is admitting they didn't do anything wrong. Whether or not Psion is being compensated out of court isn't mentioned, but hopefully the issue can now be put to rest.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/34944-psion-ends-legal-campaign-against-netbook-makers.html

 

[omenadds]

Justin Please check your facts ?
"Psion, a little-known company ... " Fail !
Just because you have not heard of them, does not mean they are little known.

The Series 5 Psion went on sale in 1997, it had a 32bit operating system, utilised compact flash disks( SSD), and was one of the best organizers of the day. They where a big threat to Palm and Windows CE at the time.
I could browse the web( monochrome and very limited, but state of the art at the time) do excel spreadsheets, and it did actually fit in my pocket.
An off shoot was the Symbian operating system ( 32 bit )
The Symbian operating system in 2007 powered over 125 million mobile phones such as the Sony Ericsson P900 series.

A little known company ? It depends how old you are.
FACT: Psion registered the trademark NETBOOK in various territories, including European Union Community Trade Mark 000428250 and U.S. Trademark 75,215,401, which was applied for on 18 December 1996.

 

[Julio Franco]

Although I agree with the original take that Psion is little known in the PC world, with pretty much no product to relate to in that regard for about a decade, generalizing as a little known company was not correct either. As you mention, they have made significant contributions in other related industries, like the mobile software industry.

 

[Phantasm66]

Back in time a wee bit, Psion were well known. They had a personal organiser / handheld computer thingy that looked quite like the "HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy" - the Organiser II. ( http://archive.psion2.org/org2/org2.htm ) I begged my Mum and Dad to buy me one but they never did. They are now more focussed on rugged mobile computing solutions.

I still think this lawsuit was completely gay but no they are not a little-known company, no. They just had their time come and go about 20 years ago.