Psion Drops Netbook Lawsuit

Netbook is the term coined by Intel in early 2008 for small, cheap, low-powered subnotebooks. However, late last year, Psion began issuing cease-and-desist letters to users of the word "netbook," based on a trademark claim for the Netbook Pro (shown below), a device it no longer sells. Things escalated, all the way to a lawsuit by Psion against Intel, but it appears sanity has returned, as a settlement has been reached.

On Monday, Psion issued a statement which said that the two companies had "settled the trademark cancellation and infringement litigation brought in the Northern District of California relating to the 'Netbook' trademark registration."

"The litigation has been settled through an amicable agreement under which Psion will voluntarily withdraw all of its trademark registrations for 'Netbook'. Neither party accepted any liability. In light of this amicable agreement, Psion has agreed to waive all its rights against third parties in respect of past, current or future use of the 'Netbook' term."

It's unclear if there was any financial component to the settlement, or if Psion decided it didn't have deep enough pockets to continue fighting Intel.


As we previously said, Psion's US website lists the Netbook Pro among the company's "Discontinued Products".