Analysis - Should German lawyers be able to tell UK media what to write?

[OilSheikh]

Just tell them, Hexus is not based in Germany. If they wish to tell Hexus what they can and cant do, they will have to do it through a British law firm.

[aeonf242]

I think we should get Basildon Bond to issue a counter writ against the use of the word 'Notebook'

[aidanjt]

Because hefty censorship has become common place in Germany.

[aeonf242]

Because hefty censorship has become common place in Germany.

and the UK

Lawyers for the oil trading firm Trafigura stopped a parliamentary question being reported by the Guardian, until its identity became widely known via the Twitter social network

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8488232.stm

[amdavies]

So if Smartbook AG started up a website called Hexus, everyone here would be ok with that ? After all, it's free speech, yes ? Quite apart from the fact that we, in Britain, have no expectation whatsoever of free speech.

If you have a trademark then you have to protect it or, as Hoover found it, it can become a generic term; something Google is going to find out about soon too.

[Gunge]

I have no idea what is in the letter sent to Hexus, but the comments are confusing issues of censorship (likely irrelevant), copyright (also likely irrelevant) and a problem which most likely relates to trade marks.

Smartbook AG may be a German company but they have a pending Community Trade Mark application for the term 'smartbook' in respect of various electronic goods, games etc. The UK is part of the CTM system so I'm afraid to disappoint people who think German attorneys have no place to take action in the UK.

Having said all of that, Smartbook AG only seem to have a pending CTM application, not a registered right. Furthermore, the application was made in July 2009. I would have thought that was somewhat late in the day for a term such as 'smartbook' not to be considered generic and descriptive of a general class of product. It is possible that Smartbook AG have earlier national rights in the UK, but the UK IPO website isnt working so I couldnt check.

If Smartbook AG have bona fide intellectual property rights in the term smartbook, then they can and should protect those rights. However, they may just be throwing their legal weight around in the hope that people will toe some dubious line they have chosen to mark out their territory with.

I would very much like to see the letter, but it would be unwise for it to be posted without seeking legal advice first.

Personally, I wouldnt be feeling too concerned.

G.

[Thalion]

Interesting, first came the people who hijacked web-adresses, then the patent-trolls and now these trademark-terrorists. Is there not a generic way to prevent companies who want to try stuff like this from starting law-suits in the first place?

[superscaper]

So if Smartbook AG started up a website called Hexus, everyone here would be ok with that ? After all, it's free speech, yes ? Quite apart from the fact that we, in Britain, have no expectation whatsoever of free speech.

If you have a trademark then you have to protect it or, as Hoover found it, it can become a generic term; something Google is going to find out about soon too.

But there's a vast difference between another company calling their own product Hoover or Walkman, and journalists, bloggers or average joes in the street generically calling something Hoover or Walkman. Hexus isn't claiming the term for itself. That's the difference. Your analogy is therefore false. If Smartbook AG were to refer to someone else's website or all tech websites as "Hexus", that'd be the equivalent. They're free to do that and they're not infringing any Trademarks because they're not using that Mark to Trade under.

There may be something to journalists perpetuating confusion of a trademark but it's not quite the same as doing it by confusion with your own trademarks.

[aidanjt]

So if Smartbook AG started up a website called Hexus, everyone here would be ok with that ? After all, it's free speech, yes ? Quite apart from the fact that we, in Britain, have no expectation whatsoever of free speech.

If you have a trademark then you have to protect it or, as Hoover found it, it can become a generic term; something Google is going to find out about soon too.

Perfectly OK with it. Hexus (as far as I know) has no trademark in Germany. You can't superimpose your countries legislation and business practices on top of the rest of the world.