Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

According to Engadget Hasbro doesn't like ASUS calling their products Transformer Prime.

A quick quote:

"Hasbro still feels the need to "aggressively protect its brands and products" from illusory enemies, and it's fully prepared to threaten ASUS with a sales injunction until some sort of conciliatory gesture appears on its bank statement"

From: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/22/tran ... w-prefera/

It does seem a bit cheeky of ASUS to use that name.

Hasbro bashing much?

Come on, name any product "Transformer" and you're walking on poison-tipped glass shards.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Hasbro bashing much?

Come on, name any product "Transformer" and you're walking on poison-tipped glass shards.

What is "ASUS" mean,I asssume it's some kind of brand name or company name.

is this a joke rant or serious rant. the guy who wrote the rant failed to supply the much needed key info. all that link had in it was rant minus info.

their was no mention in that link info. what product the transformers prime was applied to & why the TF Prime got applied to it. their was no court hearing legal suing info.

Btw,R2-D2 is not a transformers,he's from starwars.

That is correct. Hasbro has taken legal action against computer company ASUS over their use of the name Transformer Prime. With all the potential intellectual property slights against parent company Hasbro, who would have thought it would be a computer that brings down the hammer? ASUS has named their converting laptop tablet PC Transformer Prime. Hasbro announced it will "aggressively protect its brands and products".

Theverge.com reported the action stating:"The toymaker is no doubt worried that the name could be confused with that of its Transformers franchise, not to mention Optimus Prime, the lead protagonist of the animation and film series... though we're not quite sure how a robot that transforms into a semi truck could be confused with a tablet and detachable keyboard. Perhaps Hasbro is worried that tablet buyers might see it as a licensed product."

Is this an indication that Hasbro feels companies are flying fast and loose with the Transformers brand? Check out these articles here and here and join the discussion already under way in the forums.

Here is a picture of the offender. Not what I would have guessed.

Ahh thanks, I was just looking up images and more info of the product in question.

there's a mobile phone here called "Optimus". wonder if they'll notice that?

Optimus seems to be used by a few companies. A quick google shows that Nvidia used it too. I doubt theres much can be done about that as its a latin word meaning one of the best, aristocrat, noble.

Asus had this project in development under this name for a while now. I don't think Hasbro is going to be able to win this one. And if they do, that's just bullshit. Asus is a great company, they make the motherboards I use for my CSM & high end builds. They have been a big name in the tech industry for a long time, Hasbro may have bitten off more than they can chew on this one.

I guess since Hasbro cant really go after 3rd parties, so this is the next big thing? or is Hasbro hard up for money?

I admit ASUS naming is kind of confusing but Hasbro's action is way too late. IIRC, shouldn't this tablet be in the market already but got delayed due to some hardware issues?

I think it's worth mentioning that the "Transformer Prime" is the new up-model version of Asus's similar tablet/keyboard combo, which was named the Transformer. That one came out a full year ago.

Re: paul053 - It had some issues with the wifi which delayed it slightly, but it's mainly delayed because they aren't making it quickly enough to fulfill initial preorders, nevermind the new orders coming in. The thing is THE tablet to buy this season, apparently.

When I hear "Transformer Prime", my thoughts go straight to the newest Hasbro animation depicting Cybertronians. Then I see it's a product for a PC tablet. I believe Hasbro is worried about confusion due to ASUS' product be named so similar to their show/product line.

If it was just "Transformer" or "Prime", no issue. But the combination of both words makes it a problem. I don't agree with some of the posters that Hasbro is just looking to bully other companies with this lawsuit, regardless of who their target is.

paul053 wrote:I admit ASUS naming is kind of confusing but Hasbro's action is way too late. IIRC, shouldn't this tablet be in the market already but got delayed due to some hardware issues?

There werese delays due to the dock. But it's been on the market at least two months now.

I'm rooting for Hasbro.

Consumers may be confused between a computer and a television show and toy line? God... f*** you Hasbro, as if ASUS quality control and customer service wasn't bad enough. Now someone wants to sue them.

That's just the way in this lawyer filled mess of a world though. It's all about making money for nothing. I hate Hasbro so much right now. I want to see the company burn at this point. Big companies like Hasbro, hiring decent talented people like Lauren Faust to produce television shows for toys which have been outsourced to slave labor, suing companies for no good reason, driving the economy into the ground and making me f***ing addicted to stupid plastic toys into my adulthood... f*** I don't even a right to say this s***. Imma go look for those missing deluxes now...

Ok Ok someone has to say it...

"ASUS just got KO'd"

Whaaaaat?...too soon?

Ole hasbro is gettin a little feisty this holiday season..Maybe they should use some of this aggrressive approach towards making better toys and actually not schleppin out repaints...Just sayin...

A couple of things that are important to keep in perspective.

Part of the US trademark system is a requirement to vigorously defend your mark or you will lose it. How precisely big an "infringer" has to be to qualify as a threat is something only a lawyer could probably tell you.

Second, given that in the last couple of iterations of the branding there have been licensed PC peripherals using the trademarks, it is possible that the Prime name has been applied for in that category, but I'm too lazy to go to uspto.gov and look it up. Transformer Prime is a bit close to Transformers: Prime in the grand scheme of things.

Oh, and lastly, I don't know for certain if this applies but it just occurred to me. It is possible that Hasbro expected that Prime was a (complementary) Codename that would be relabelled once the product when to promotion and market. This happens a LOT in IT particularly since we IT geeks love to codename projects after things we think are ubercool.

TheVerge.com wrote:The toymaker is no doubt worried that the name could be confused with that of its Transformers franchise, not to mention Optimus Prime, the lead protagonist of the animation and film series... though we're not quite sure how a robot that transforms into a semi truck could be confused with a tablet and detachable keyboard. Perhaps Hasbro is worried that tablet buyers might see it as a licensed product.

This is such as asinine comment to me. You mean to tell me that if a company released a computer type product called the Chevrolet Corvette or the General Motors Silverado or something like that that it could get away with that because they're "not quite sure how an automobile that people can drive could be confused with a tablet and detachable keyboard"? I don't fully understand all of the legal ramifications of all of this and I understand that the words "transformer" and "prime" are general use words which might complicate this. However, "corvette" is also a common use word (it's a type of warship) though I'm assuming most people think of the car first and foremost. I think the word "transformer" and "prime" used in conjunction together should signify a violation. Used separately, no, but used together, I think the malicious intent is clear and its usage would severely dilute and adversely affect one of Hasbro's flagship characters.

to be fair it is called transformer prime not transformers prime and each word usage can be justified, it transforms from one thing to anotther hence transformer and i guess they consider it there best line so hence the prime but i was wondering if any thing would come of this. When i first heard the name of the computer i thought it was a TF branded computer being used to promote the franchise. Id like to know why hasbro decided to go after this one and not one of the many products that uses it names like all the products with the name optimus

And yet Hasbro never sued Lancôme:

Wonder if General Electric has ever given Hasbro crap about using transformers as a name for a franchise since it is the name of a staple component of the electric system.

Why name a laptop Transformer Prime anyways? Hasbro, on the other hand, is being anal retentive- property ownership or not. May as well copyright the individual words and sue Webster's Dictionary.

Megatron Wolf wrote:to be fair it is called transformer prime not transformers prime and each word usage can be justified, it transforms from one thing to anotther hence transformer and i guess they consider it there best line so hence the prime but i was wondering if any thing would come of this. When i first heard the name of the computer i thought it was a TF branded computer being used to promote the franchise. Id like to know why hasbro decided to go after this one and not one of the many products that uses it names like all the products with the name optimus

Because I'm assuming they don't own a trademark on the name optimus. It's "optimus prime".

Anyone can use the word "transformer", except for use as a toy or one of the other mediums that the Transformers toy brand utilizes. It's the conjunction of these two words that is the issue. They could have called their tablet "Prime" or the ASUS Transformer, but I think it's the fact that they're calling it the Transformer Prime that is the issue.

Question: Why would any company do something like this intentionally?

It's pretty obvious in this day and age that they'd be sued, even though it's simply irrational to think someone could confuse a computer for a toy/television series. Whilst we're talking confusion, how about we talk about the upcoming RiD line, or perhaps any of the other dozens of different lines with confusing names.

And y'know what? I don't give a s**t about copyright anymore. Nope. Don't give a f**k who pirates what or steals the name of whatever. I hate all lawyers and politicians who fight for copyright laws. SOPA makes me want to steal s**t.

I believe at one point Asus was going to launch their full line of tablets under the name Prime. I do know that there was a netbook/tablet that was marketed as the transformer. Either way, this is ridiculous because nobody is going to buy the transformer prime tablet thinking it's Megatron anyways.