Cologne, 08/06/2010: All SMARTBOOK brands of the SMARTBOOK AG are currently under attack from Qualcomm Inc. Due to these attacks, proceedings are under way at several Trademark Offices regarding the registration of these brands. Qualcomm claims that SMARTBOOK is a descriptive term. SMARTBOOK AG considers this claim to be incorrect.
The extended word mark SMARTBOOK had already been registered in the United Kingdom when Qualcomm appealed to the courts there. The fact that the United Kingdom as the original English-speaking country registered the term as non-descriptive definitely speaks for SMARTBOOK not being a descriptive term.
The situation is different in e.g. Turkey where a brand called SMARTBOOK was already registered previously. The Turkish Trademark Office refused the registration due to existing property rights.
The competent courts will be making a decision regarding the brands in the next three to five years. When the brands have been registered, only the owner of the brand, SMARTBOOK AG, will be authorized to use the brands from the date of the trademark registration.
For more information, please refer to www.smartbook.info
Smartbook and smartbook for smart people are registered trademarks in the Federal Republic of Germany.
SMARTBOOK is internationally registered (from Germany via the World Intellectual Property Organization - www.wipo.org) for the following countries: Germany, Antigua, Austria, Australia, Benelux, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Sweden, Singapore, Turkey and Ukraine.
Last updated: Apr 7, 2020 at 12:02 pm CDT