Well here's a lawsuit that's a little different to usual. Hasbro, maker of the Transformer range of toys that morph into vehicles, is suing Asus, maker of the Transformer Prime tablet that comes equipped with a keyboard that allows it to morph into a laptop, with the aim of banning the tablet.
Hasbro has accused the Taiwanese company of trademark violation. Let's not forget Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots, so the Asus tablet's name does seem a little close to the bone. The lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles federal court last week, GMA News reports.
"Hasbro continues to aggressively protect its brands and products and the specific actions we are taking today against Asus underscores yet again Hasbro's willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain," the toy company said in a statement.
Hasbro is seeking damages and a temporary injunction to stop Asus selling the tablet. That'd be bad news for us Brits as the Tranformer Prime is due early next year, for a not too unreasonable £499, and scored a very respectable four-out-of-five in our review. It could well be the Android iPad-challenger we've been waiting for.
Trademarks apply to stop confusion, and it's not likely anyone's going to think the Transformer Prime is related to the toy range. But at the same time, with the Transformers movies expanding the range of merchandise, it's possible Hasbro could branch out and while it might not produce its own computers, it may well launch a tie-in product with another company, much like Nokia did with the recent Batman-themed Nokia Lumia 800.
The Transformer Prime packs an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, and will update to Ice Cream Sandwich. The handy dock ups the battery to a laptop-thrashing 18 hours too. Very practical.
Is Hasbro right to sue? And would you buy the Transformer Prime? Let us know over on our Facebook page, or below in the comments.
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Comments 8
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anonymous 22 December, 2011 11:31
I am very much looking forward to to Transformer Prime. I'll do anything not to buy Apple and I thought this would be the main challenger. However, I must admit, the link to the Autobots Leader was the very first thought I had when I heard the name.
Please dont ban this tablets/netbook!
anonymous 22 December, 2011 11:32
I don't see this getting very far - they are in totally different markets so there is no possibility for confusion
Jamie Ingram 22 December, 2011 11:36
Oh get a grip hasbro!!
How about instead of fighting it out in court come up with some smart joint marketing venture and boost each other product. Its not like there direct competion for each other is it.
anonymous 22 December, 2011 13:17
You can tell Hasbro sales are at a low if they're trying to sue Asus over the name, but as mentioned in the first post I did think "Tranformers" when I first heard of this product!
However I don't think anyone would get confused between buying a Toy that costs £60 to a laptop that's a couple hundred. Saying that though...
anonymous 22 December, 2011 14:01
I was looking forward to the Transformer Prime, as I want one.
However, the name does strike me as a touch idiotic and monstrously clichéd: I did think it had something to do with the films franchise and was praying that it wouldn't come with the usual trite wallpaper, soundbites and crapware usually associated with film-tie-ins. I was relieved to see that it wasn't a tie-in, but this begged the question of why ASUS would bother using "transformer" and "prime" when the English language provides innumerate permutations of synonyms.
anonymous 22 December, 2011 18:55
kind of felt your review was harsh it seems to me to me on less a product has an I in front of its name you tend to rubbish it
nadz156 22 December, 2011 19:24
So Thats why Google changed the Google Nexus Prime to Samsung Galaxy Nexus...
Finley Fumblemore Dale 26 December, 2011 18:46
It's abit over the top to sue, but that's Americans for you.
I do believe that someone while naming this was trying to reference it to Optimistic Prime. xD