28 replies to this topic

[nekkidtruth]

I'm with Hasbro on this one. ASUS knew exactly what they were doing when they named it the Transformer prime. Idiots. It's a blatant franchise name rip off. I wish Hasbro hadn't failed.

What a load of BS. Good thing the court agreed with Hasbro (and you apparently)....Oh....that's right! They didn't.

It is utterly retarded to compare Asus' tablet to a toy line slash animated series. The judge was dead on with the ruling and the reasons for ruling the way he did. Hasbro isn't able to make a connection between the two because none exists.

[+Elliott]

The case is still going to trial. It's just the preliminary injunction that was blocked.

Also, anybody else happen to catch the sales figures that were also released as a result of this ruling? Asus has racked up a whopping... 2,000 preorders? Ouch.

[+warwagon]

What a load of BS. Good thing the court agreed with Hasbro (and you apparently)....Oh....that's right! They didn't.

It is utterly retarded to compare Asus' tablet to a toy line slash animated series. The judge was dead on with the ruling and the reasons for ruling the way he did. Hasbro isn't able to make a connection between the two because none exists.

Calling it a Transformer is one thing, but calling it the Transformer PRIME, really....I mean really????? They couldn't find ANY other word in the whole god damn English dictionary to use after the word transformer except the ONE word that also has the Transformers franchise in common. Gimme a break.

It's like if the McIntosh Apple people made a book about apples called the Macbook. Ok, I could see how it could be a book about the McIntosh Apple, just like how a transformer could also be a computer. But then instead of calling it a Macbook they call it "MacBook Pro".

[roadwarrior]

Doing 5 minutes of research would have enlightened them . Trademark infringement/dilution is centered around likelihood of consumer confusion. Thankfully, we don't live in a world where people are likely to confuse a $500 tablet with a line of $5 toy robots

Hasbro does, however, make many other products under the Transformers brand, including lots of electronic devices, even children's laptops. It is a similar situation, IMHO, to the Droid trademark deal between Lucasfilm and Verizon/Motorola, and Asus should have approached Hasbro about it in the first place.

[ir0nw0lf]

Hasbro would have won if they could have proved one thing: that the Asus tablet makes the typical transformers transforming sounds...

[Gaffney]

Is Hasbro going to make a tablet, pc or anything near this tablet where they might use their patent names?
Can you easily confuse a tablet with toys, tv shows and movies?
Might any consumer of the tablet buy it thinking it's in any way linked with Hasbro?

No, the name is similar but no sane human being is going to get confused by the tablet being called transformer prime unless Asus make a toy called Transformer prime or Hasbro makes a tablet called transformer, transformers or transformer prime.

As long as the product in no way tries to link it's self to the Hasbro transformers, the name is fine.

It's different from what these laws were actually made for. To stop eg Samsung making a phone that looks almost exactly like the iphone4 and also calls it the iphone4. I'm not going to get confused between an actual apple and an apple iphone.

[ArKeYa]

The case is still going to trial. It's just the preliminary injunction that was blocked.

Also, anybody else happen to catch the sales figures that were also released as a result of this ruling? Asus has racked up a whopping... 2,000 preorders? Ouch.

Primarily because Hasbro waited too long to assert their right and Asus had already made investments on the product. And I agree with the court on this decision. In the end this might just be a settlement case with Asus paying some royalties to Hasbro.

[nekkidtruth]

Calling it a Transformer is one thing, but calling it the Transformer PRIME, really....I mean really????? They couldn't find ANY other word in the whole god damn English dictionary to use after the word transformer except the ONE word that also has the Transformers franchise in common. Gimme a break.

It's like if the McIntosh Apple people made a book about apples called the Macbook. Ok, I could see how it could be a book about the McIntosh Apple, just like how a transformer could also be a computer. But then instead of calling it a Macbook they call it "MacBook Pro".

If you're incapable of differentiating between a Macbook laptop and a book called Macbook, the issue isn't with the which company released it. Just saying. There is a distinction. Just as there is between a tablet and TOYS, MOVIES AND A TV SHOW! See? I can do that too.

[+ViperAFK]

I'm with Hasbro on this one. ASUS knew exactly what they were doing when they named it the Transformer prime. Idiots. It's a blatant franchise name rip off. I wish Hasbro hadn't failed.

No one is going to confuse an expensive tablet with a toy robot, hasbro has no case.

[+warwagon]

No one is going to confuse an expensive tablet with a toy robot, hasbro has no case.

Still feels like a trademark infringement

[LaP]

wow i'm surprised Hasbro lost this.

[LaP]

No one is going to confuse an expensive tablet with a toy robot, hasbro has no case.

So i can make a video game and call it John Carter Jr and as long as the game has nothing to do with John Carter i'm okay.

I don't think so.

[+warwagon]

I also found out that there is a show on the internet called "Transformers:Prime"

http://www.hubworld....ers/shows/prime

[+ViperAFK]

So i can make a video game and call it John Carter Jr and as long as the game has nothing to do with John Carter i'm okay.

I don't think so.

That's different. It might be viable that consumers would be confused, and think its a video game related to or about the john carter movie (I assume this is what you are referring to?) because movies and video games often overlap like this.

A laptop has nothing to do with the transformer brand. No one is going to buy it thinking its a toy robot or something. If they called it optimus prime then I can see their case, but "transformer prime" is generic enough to not be directly related or confusing to customers.