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Yeah... I didn't see this working out inHasbro's favour. Every lawer in ASUS's team must've vetted the name before release.

What's with Hasbro lately? Are they really trying that hard to win the Douchebag of the Year award?

UltraPrimal wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:

Kibble wrote:I wonder if the Transformer Prime laptop line is the same as Hasbro's where the super limited initial run is good, but the ones they release to the masses are crappy?

lol... I was actually kind of rooting for Hasbro on this one. Maybe not right to ban sales, but to force a name change seems reasonable to me. "Transformer Prime" is just too blatantly similar. But whatever, makes no difference to us at the end of the day.

I agree. I was with Hasbro on this one. Though maybe the 2 companies should have just gotten together and released an official Transformers branded laptop/tablet thing. I'm currently in the market for a new laptop/tablet and I was actually looking at getting an ASUS Transformer Prime, simply because of the name.

I was also with Hasbro on this, though I agree that perhaps they waited too long. The names are too similar. Might as well come out with the "General Computers Chevrolet Pickup" which features an easy on the go flip out handle to make it easy to pick up and go.

Galactic Prime wrote:Hasbro was well within it's rights to sue, this judge is a dipshit.

Totally agree!! This ruling was Bullsh**!
Anyone with half a brain knows better to even think about releasing a product with ANYTHING Transformer in its name without clearing it through proper channels. The people at ASUS knew full well what they were doing and were deliberately banking on using the Transformer brand to jack their profit margins. This is blatant theft and infringement. This isn't like the gripe that Hasbro has with the 3rd party stuff, this is malicious intent by a corporation and those of you dismissing it and laughing about it, or even worse, promoting it don't seem to realize that Hasbro can't give you what you want when they have to invest their profits in stuff like this and they can't afford to just give in without a fight because that will screw over their consumers as well in the long run.
I don't know what some of you guys THINK you know about the business world but it sure doesn't work the way a lot of you imagine. This was a big deal and it sets a bad precedent for other companies to pull the same crap and in the long run, Hasbro's consumers and investors get screwed by stuff like this. Can each and every one of you afford to build your collections on 3rd party stuff alone? I sure as hell can't!

good maybe now hasbro will use their money to give us better toys at better prices rather than waste it on retarded lawsuits. Maybe instead of trying to sue them hasbro should've talked to them about doing a cross over thing so both parties could make a profit but hasbros just to damn nearsighted and selfish to think of it. Glad to see the judicial system isnt so useless after all.

necr0blivion wrote:When I hear "Transformer Prime", my thoughts go straight to the newest Hasbro animation depicting Cybertronians.

If it was just "Transformer" or "Prime", no issue.

i agree with this whole heartedly.

now most of this dissent comes from 3rd party talk, but whats with all the hatred and loathing towards hasbro lately? yeah.. id love for hasbro to make every transformer of my dreams, but get real people. its a business and they dont owe us anything. the fact that they cater to us at all is amazing. and as far as this story? they named it "transformer prime" for christ sake. they have every right to persue legal action.

I dont know what really happens inside the court hearing but it seems the lawyer of Asus is just smarter to make things too technical for Hasbro or maybe the Hasbro lawyer is the same guy giving the idea to make more Bumblebee

shajaki wrote:

necr0blivion wrote:When I hear "Transformer Prime", my thoughts go straight to the newest Hasbro animation depicting Cybertronians.

If it was just "Transformer" or "Prime", no issue.

i agree with this whole heartedly.

now most of this dissent comes from 3rd party talk, but whats with all the hatred and loathing towards hasbro lately? yeah.. id love for hasbro to make every transformer of my dreams, but get real people. its a business and they dont owe us anything. the fact that they cater to us at all is amazing. and as far as this story? they named it "transformer prime" for christ sake. they have every right to persue legal action.

Well said.

All you whiners going after Hasbro need to remember one thing... By law, Hasbro HAS to appear like they give a damn, using actions such as these.

Basically a "use it or lose it" kinda deal.

Hasbro probably knew they were going to lose, probably don't even really care, but they have to at least appear as though they care.

This way, they can say "They used our name, we fought it, we lost. Simple as that. What more do you want from us?" Then those running things behind the scenes (lawmakers and such) can say "Fair enough. Carry on."

I'm terribly disappointed in Hasbro, right now, for various reasons. It doesn't mean I'm going to kick them in the teeth for reasonable actions and reactions.

Some of you people just completely miss the point.

shajaki wrote:

necr0blivion wrote:When I hear "Transformer Prime", my thoughts go straight to the newest Hasbro animation depicting Cybertronians.

If it was just "Transformer" or "Prime", no issue.

i agree with this whole heartedly.

now most of this dissent comes from 3rd party talk, but whats with all the hatred and loathing towards hasbro lately? yeah.. id love for hasbro to make every transformer of my dreams, but get real people. its a business and they dont owe us anything. the fact that they cater to us at all is amazing. and as far as this story? they named it "transformer prime" for christ sake. they have every right to persue legal action.

Are you serious ??? Seriously, are you serious ???

Im not saying the guy who named the laptop lives in a cave, but do you seriously believe he ever heard of the specific line "Transformers Prime" ??? Im not talking about G1 or Bayformers, Im talking about an small American made cartoon show aimed towards kids and collectors known as "Transformers Prime". The same show that even though it has been on the air 2 seasons, it just got it's first toys about 6 months ago.The guy probally only knows one name in the entire TF continuity, Bumblebee. (let alone the name to any series that until recently has been overshadowed by Michael Bay) Me personally, I dont even know what channel "The Hub" is on Comcast or what else they play besides TF Prime. I just download the show and watch it on my terms. I dont think there was any intenional theft and hasbro had to be smoking crack laced with meth to believe they had a case.

Rated X wrote:

shajaki wrote:now most of this dissent comes from 3rd party talk, but whats with all the hatred and loathing towards hasbro lately? yeah.. id love for hasbro to make every transformer of my dreams, but get real people. its a business and they dont owe us anything. the fact that they cater to us at all is amazing. and as far as this story? they named it "transformer prime" for christ sake. they have every right to persue legal action.

Are you serious ??? Seriously, are you serious ???

Im not saying the guy who named the laptop lives in a cave, but do you seriously believe he ever heard of the specific line "Transformers Prime" ??? Im not talking about G1 or Bayformers, Im talking about an small American made cartoon show aimed towards kids and collectors known as "Transformers Prime". The same show that even though it has been on the air 2 seasons, it just got it's first toys about 6 months ago.The guy probally only knows one name in the entire TF continuity, Bumblebee. (let alone the name to any series that until recently has been overshadowed by Michael Bay) Me personally, I dont even know what channel "The Hub" is on Comcast or what else they play besides TF Prime. I just download the show and watch it on my terms. I dont think there was any intenional theft and hasbro had to be smoking crack laced with meth to believe they had a case.

im betting that thanks to micheal bay, the transformers are a household name by now. hell, when i was a kid my mom knew who optimus prime was cause i never shut up about it. and thats when they actually were a "small American made cartoon show". theyre probably the most widely known.. big robot thingies.. in the world at this point.

but youre making it sound like im accusing ASUS of stealing the name. it might be entirely coincidental. i dont know, and i dont really care either. all im saying is hasbro has the right to defend their copyrights.

if i made a sport drink called ASUS and later found out someone owned the name, (though theyre completely different products) id expect them to come after me.

*for the record, id never name a sport drink ASUS. its to close to anus*

This is just more proof of how inconsistently copyright/trademark law is applied.

Remember the movie the Secret of Nimh? Well, it was based on a book called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. Guess what? Frisbee made them change the name of Mrs. Frisby to Mrs. Brisby. Nevermind that Frisbee itself was ripped off of a pie maker's name, Frisbie Pie Company, and its shape was designed after pie pans.

Or maybe take the Happy Birthday song. That was ripped off a song called Good Morning written several decades earlier. Yet if you try to use it, Warner will sue you, and win.

Or take the movie Dark City. They had to change the name twice. First it was called Dark World. Then Spielberg sued because somehow that was too similar to Jurassic Park 2, "The Lost World". So they went with Dark Empire. Nope. Lucas said he owned the word "Empire" because he used it in Star Wars. So they finally settled on Dark City.

Or take the Sleep Inn. Originally it was going to be called the McSleep Inn, since it was cheap and easy like McDonald's. McDonald's sued and won. Nevermind that sleeping in a motel for a night has nothing to do with getting a hamburger and fries in less than five minutes.

Based on history, Hasbro is completely within its rights to sue. Transformers are toys, but they're also tech, and I think you could easily argue there is a lot of crossover in their audience with all the 30-something male fans out there, so there is potential for confusion with an official Transformers product (and Hasbro had a toy Transformers laptop on the market not long ago, by the way, so it's not a stretch to think they'd license a real one soon after).

But Asus is also completely within its rights to rip off Hasbro's trademark, since nothing matters except whether you have enough money to win and get someone in the law enforcement/legal system on your side.

T-Macksimus wrote:

Galactic Prime wrote:Hasbro was well within it's rights to sue, this judge is a dipshit.

Totally agree!! This ruling was Bullsh**!
Anyone with half a brain knows better to even think about releasing a product with ANYTHING Transformer in its name without clearing it through proper channels. The people at ASUS knew full well what they were doing and were deliberately banking on using the Transformer brand to jack their profit margins. This is blatant theft and infringement. This isn't like the gripe that Hasbro has with the 3rd party stuff, this is malicious intent by a corporation and those of you dismissing it and laughing about it, or even worse, promoting it don't seem to realize that Hasbro can't give you what you want when they have to invest their profits in stuff like this and they can't afford to just give in without a fight because that will screw over their consumers as well in the long run.
I don't know what some of you guys THINK you know about the business world but it sure doesn't work the way a lot of you imagine. This was a big deal and it sets a bad precedent for other companies to pull the same crap and in the long run, Hasbro's consumers and investors get screwed by stuff like this. Can each and every one of you afford to build your collections on 3rd party stuff alone? I sure as hell can't!

Agreed 100%, I had no idea there were so many uneducated people here. I'm guessing most of the ones who think the Judge is right are all under 25 years old... So sad.

Galactic Prime wrote:

T-Macksimus wrote:

Galactic Prime wrote:Hasbro was well within it's rights to sue, this judge is a dipshit.

Totally agree!! This ruling was Bullsh**!
Anyone with half a brain knows better to even think about releasing a product with ANYTHING Transformer in its name without clearing it through proper channels. The people at ASUS knew full well what they were doing and were deliberately banking on using the Transformer brand to jack their profit margins. This is blatant theft and infringement. This isn't like the gripe that Hasbro has with the 3rd party stuff, this is malicious intent by a corporation and those of you dismissing it and laughing about it, or even worse, promoting it don't seem to realize that Hasbro can't give you what you want when they have to invest their profits in stuff like this and they can't afford to just give in without a fight because that will screw over their consumers as well in the long run.
I don't know what some of you guys THINK you know about the business world but it sure doesn't work the way a lot of you imagine. This was a big deal and it sets a bad precedent for other companies to pull the same crap and in the long run, Hasbro's consumers and investors get screwed by stuff like this. Can each and every one of you afford to build your collections on 3rd party stuff alone? I sure as hell can't!

Agreed 100%, I had no idea there were so many uneducated people here. I'm guessing most of the ones who think the Judge is right are all under 25 years old... So sad.

You may be right, but at least one of us under 25 isn't so dumb. It doesn't HAVE tyo be the cartoon in particular, guys, "Transformer" and "Prime" lead to Hasbro's ~thirty years of name brand building.

On the grounds that the judge uesd, abotu being gimmicky, I can give him, but the obbvious white elephant in the room isn't "Oh look, it has a little blaster shaped kickstand", it's the name brand. Hasbro had the right and requirement to stand up for that, one of the posters here even proved that point by stating he'd have bought one BECAUSE it was TF and Prime. That is precisely the name infringement Hasbro is wanting to go after. Not TF:Prime neccessarily, but the two words add up to a single correlation that treads on their consumer base.

and they did. They should have won.

Galactic Prime wrote:

T-Macksimus wrote:

Galactic Prime wrote:Hasbro was well within it's rights to sue, this judge is a dipshit.

Totally agree!! This ruling was Bullsh**!
Anyone with half a brain knows better to even think about releasing a product with ANYTHING Transformer in its name without clearing it through proper channels. The people at ASUS knew full well what they were doing and were deliberately banking on using the Transformer brand to jack their profit margins. This is blatant theft and infringement. This isn't like the gripe that Hasbro has with the 3rd party stuff, this is malicious intent by a corporation and those of you dismissing it and laughing about it, or even worse, promoting it don't seem to realize that Hasbro can't give you what you want when they have to invest their profits in stuff like this and they can't afford to just give in without a fight because that will screw over their consumers as well in the long run.
I don't know what some of you guys THINK you know about the business world but it sure doesn't work the way a lot of you imagine. This was a big deal and it sets a bad precedent for other companies to pull the same crap and in the long run, Hasbro's consumers and investors get screwed by stuff like this. Can each and every one of you afford to build your collections on 3rd party stuff alone? I sure as hell can't!

Agreed 100%, I had no idea there were so many uneducated people here. I'm guessing most of the ones who think the Judge is right are all under 25 years old... So sad.

I had no idea there were so many lame people.

Funny how many lawyers here always are. Sorry, you aren't. Well in that case I recommend that you take that job, for obviously you would be a hell of a lawyer. Winning every case and so on. And did you know that they make quite good money as well. Besides; maybe there wasn't case and the judge made the right call. I don't think that hasbro owns word prime anyways.

Hasbro is probably in the right in terms of "laws", but f**k the law! It's just foolish to think anyone could mistake a damn Eee Pad for a $12.00 transforming robot toy. I'm just glad that there's still people in the justice system who have a little common sense left.

Hasbro is worth 3.5 BILLION, some computer company or small 3rd party company using a similar name or similar looking product, pose no threat to Hasbro or any of it's consumers in any way. Not to mention if 3rd party actually could pose a threat, the costs of 3rd party would need to be significantly lower. Regardless, I support competitive markets anyway.

amtm wrote:This is just more proof of how inconsistently copyright/trademark law is applied.

Remember the movie the Secret of Nimh? Well, it was based on a book called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. Guess what? Frisbee made them change the name of Mrs. Frisby to Mrs. Brisby. Nevermind that Frisbee itself was ripped off of a pie maker's name, Frisbie Pie Company, and its shape was designed after pie pans.

Or maybe take the Happy Birthday song. That was ripped off a song called Good Morning written several decades earlier. Yet if you try to use it, Warner will sue you, and win.

Or take the movie Dark City. They had to change the name twice. First it was called Dark World. Then Spielberg sued because somehow that was too similar to Jurassic Park 2, "The Lost World". So they went with Dark Empire. Nope. Lucas said he owned the word "Empire" because he used it in Star Wars. So they finally settled on Dark City.

Or take the Sleep Inn. Originally it was going to be called the McSleep Inn, since it was cheap and easy like McDonald's. McDonald's sued and won. Nevermind that sleeping in a motel for a night has nothing to do with getting a hamburger and fries in less than five minutes.

Based on history, Hasbro is completely within its rights to sue. Transformers are toys, but they're also tech, and I think you could easily argue there is a lot of crossover in their audience with all the 30-something male fans out there, so there is potential for confusion with an official Transformers product (and Hasbro had a toy Transformers laptop on the market not long ago, by the way, so it's not a stretch to think they'd license a real one soon after).

But Asus is also completely within its rights to rip off Hasbro's trademark, since nothing matters except whether you have enough money to win and get someone in the law enforcement/legal system on your side.

Many of the instances you cite were settled out of court to avoid litigation, and therefore have NOTHING to do with actual case law. Only instances that go to court and are decided by a judge would even matter. Anyone can Sue for anything and settle out of court. That does NOT make for precidents in other cases.

What I find amazing is that so many here care either way... Really, who gives a ****? Or maybe the better question is: why? Do Transformers somehow suffer from this stupid laptop having its name what it is?

Still better than the RiD line

Kibble wrote:What I find amazing is that so many here care either way... Really, who gives a ****? Or maybe the better question is: why? Do Transformers somehow suffer from this stupid laptop having its name what it is?

Good point. But Im not seeing alot of real Transformer fans here. Im seeing Hasbro fans. Yep, Barbie, My Little Pony and all. Some people seem willing to take a bullet for some men in suits who werent even employed by Hasbro during the Golden age of Transformers. (1980's) If I get a job with Hasbro tomorrow, these guys will probally bow down to me too like if I was there from day one. (1984) Even the Hasbro janitor deserves G1 stock shares in their opinion.

i love how all the wannabe lawyers come on here to post at all hours of the day and night
dont you litigators have cases of your own to work on

but seriously im wondering when hasbro is going to go after amazon for their amazon prime service,or the prime flatbed company or the prime movie from 2005, or the crossbow named you guessed it PRIME

lighten up everyone please lol!

People are just talking about the legal issues involved. No need to chastize them for it.

I do find it funny when people cite cases that were settled out of court and think that they have anything to do with IP laws. Just because Disney sues some clown for dressing up like Tigger and they settle out of court doesn't mean Disney was in the right by the law, just that the clown was intimidated by the threat of a legal suit.

Vicalliose wrote:Hasbro is probably in the right in terms of "laws", but f**k the law! It's just foolish to think anyone could mistake a damn Eee Pad for a $12.00 transforming robot toy. I'm just glad that there's still people in the justice system who have a little common sense left.

Hasbro is worth 3.5 BILLION, some computer company or small 3rd party company using a similar name or similar looking product, pose no threat to Hasbro or any of it's consumers in any way. Not to mention if 3rd party actually could pose a threat, the costs of 3rd party would need to be significantly lower. Regardless, I support competitive markets anyway.

Its not about whether it dips into hasbro's profts at the time. its about whats right. Sorry saying in the same sentance that they have legal rights, but then say who cares??? Really? This is the problem right here. Respect. Something people this day and age really have little of.
It absolutely sickens me when people have this mentality that because the big guy is doing just fine finacialy, that it gives the litte guy the right to use there intilectual property. All on the basis of..
"They pose no threat, so who cares?"
If no one ever cared, everyone would be walked all over. You don't get speacial privliges becasue your starting out. You don't get exceptions. everyone starts out as the "little guy" at some point. You get big because your smart at buisness. Not because of free handouts.

Rated X wrote:
Good point. But Im not seeing alot of real Transformer fans here. Im seeing Hasbro fans. .

And in that right, i could call you a KO Toys fan and not a real Transformers fan.

Rated X wrote:Good point. But Im not seeing alot of real Transformer fans here.

You just said that. Jeebus.