The Energon Pub

by **Rated X** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 11:29 am

Tidalwavex wrote:
Geminii wrote:It's just a flipping laptop. ASUS could go back to their marketing division and ask for fifty new names. Considering some of the nonsense syllables which have been assigned to laptop brands over the years, who'd notice.

My bet is that ASUS did it deliberately so Hasbro would be forced to sue them and ASUS could then piggyback from the publicity associated with the Transformers movies. It's a way to get their name and mention of their product on every geek site on the internet. Once they've achieved maximum awareness, my bet is that they'll change the name - and they'll then get a second round of free advertising in their target markets as the news about the change propogates through the same channels.

My 2 cents on this matter:

(1)IMHO,It's plainly obvious this ASUS named their tablet/laptop after a transformers toy line on purpose. Asus is clearly in the wrong here. as asus is the equivelant of a internet troll. who starts trouble un-provoked.gets in your face & upsets you.

Are you on Hasbro’s payroll ?

Anyways, you swear everyone knows “Transformers Prime” the same way they know the “Michael Bay Trilogy”. It’s like saying everyone who knows Star Wars knows about the cartoon series too. It’s just not that big among non-fans. There is no link between the name of this laptop and the cartoon show. It is a figment of Hasbro’s imagination.

And court is considered B***h S**t in my hood.

(2)I agree with "Gemini",ASUS could have clearly chosen billions of other names to call their product.

(3)IMHO,Some who are upset with hasbro over the Asus law suit. are only upset because of kotoys.com.

(4)I find it ironic that Hasbro goes after a smaller fish in the pond called ASUS. But hasbro has never gone after the bigger fish in the pond called USA Bandai,for using the "Transforming/Transforms" words of their Power rangers toys packaging for over 16+ years. Bandai could have used billions of words to describe the change process of one mode to the next. bandai clearly used the "Transforming/transforms" words to bypass the loop holes in the Patent/trademark rules, upset & troll hasbro.

(5)Both Asus & USA Bandai are clealy using loop holes in the patent/trade marks laws to troll & upset hasbro. Hasbro can't trademark nor patent the words transforming/transforms because it's a adjective used to describe a movement of action. Hasbro doesn't have a legal lawsuit case with Asus because Hasbro can only patent/trade mark stuff in catergories they use like toys.
patent's/trade marks expire if you don't use them in certain category. Even though Asus is trolling hasbro,asus has the right to use the TF Prime name because their in the computer category & hasbro is in the toy category. hasbro never bothered to patent/trade mark anything called Transformers Prime in the computer category,asus did. so therefore asus has full rights to the use of the Transformers Prime name.

(6)Like I said above,This Hasbro lawsuit against Asus makes no sense. because hasbro is getting free advertisemt from asus with the transforming prime words on their tablet/lap top.
because everytime people buy or see the TF Prime words on the asus tablet.they'll think Transformers toys & head down the toy aisle to buy their kids/self Transformers toys. I guess hasbro doesn't like free advertisement.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:16 pm

Rated X wrote:Are you on Hasbro’s payroll ?

Anyways, you swear everyone knows “Transformers Prime” the same way they know the “Michael Bay Trilogy”. It’s like saying everyone who knows Star Wars knows about the cartoon series too. It’s just not that big among non-fans. There is no link between the name of this laptop and the cartoon show. It is a figment of Hasbro’s imagination.

And court is considered B***h S**t in my hood.

You need to work on your quoting skills

You're overlooking the fact that Hasbro needs people to associate "Transformer" with their transforming robot toy line, and nothing else. With the laptop bearing that name, consumers will get, in Hasbro's eyes, incorrect associations.

Now that I think about it, it may be attempt to keep the trademark from becoming generic. If any type of machine that transforms is called a "transformer", over time the unique meaning of the trademark, or it's strength, will be diluted, and eventually the word would be too generic to trademark for any area.

News Credits: 7 · by **Noideaforaname** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:07 pm

Legally, Hasbro MUST enforce their trademarks otherwise they'd risk losing them, either because another company gets to use it or because it becomes generic and un-protectable. Hasbro can't ignore it.

Copyrights, on the other hand, do not need to be actively and aggressively enforced.

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 7:15 pm

Sure they can ignore it. They can do anything they want.

As for this effecting third party toy, there is a REASON Warbot Defender does not have any Autobot symbols, does not say Transformer, does not say Springer. Fansproject wouldn't want to get into names words and symbols that could easily be sued over.

News Credits: 668 · by **Autobot032** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 9:32 pm

I love all the armchair lawyers who just throw around their opinion and label Hasbro or Asus a thief or whatever else.

Most people spoutin' their crap don't know their buttholes from their elbows.

Bottom line is this: If you're in your stall, selling something called Apples & Oranges and someone comes along, parks their business in the next stall and sells their item and calls it Oranges & Apples, you're gonna be P.O.ed about it. Difference is, instead of seeking legal action, you'd just jump over the stall wall and punch their lights out.

Hasbro doesn't have it that easy. Hasbro has a lot at stake here. No one should be getting labeled. Law says what can or cannot be done, Hasbro's doing what's required of them. If the law sides with them and says Asus is liable, so be it. If the judge throws it out and says Hasbro is a bunch of buffoons, so be it.

Does it really affect you? At all? No. If you're going to get on your soapbox and whine about Hasbro's situation, this isn't the one to whine about. Be more worried about their factory conditions and their workers quality of life.

I doubt even ONE of you will stop buying a figure, I know I won't. I can tell you I'm not that strong of a person to say "Oh, you bastards. No more money from me!" But at least I can say it.

So please don't sit there and talk about how much hate you have for Hasbro because they're complying with a law. And Asus could've picked a different name. It wasn't absolutely necessary to pick that name. For a company as innovative as they are, you'd think they'd have a team capable of coming up with original names that wow as much as what's inside.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:51 pm

So after a bit of reading, it seems that ASUS' Transformer Prime will actually be powered by NVidia's quad-core chip named "Kal-El".

Perhaps Hasbro should talk to DC/Disney about a joint lawsuit?

News Credits: 6 · by **BeastProwl** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:41 pm

Burn wrote:So after a bit of reading, it seems that ASUS' Transformer Prime will actually be powered by NVidia's quad-core chip named "Kal-El".

Perhaps Hasbro should talk to DC/Disney about a joint lawsuit?

Oh dear god this just reached a new level of :BLACKEYE:

News Credits: 1 · by **Jesterhead** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:58 pm

Burn wrote:So after a bit of reading, it seems that ASUS' Transformer Prime will actually be powered by NVidia's quad-core chip named "Kal-El".

Perhaps Hasbro should talk to DC/Disney about a joint lawsuit?

"Kal-El" was the codename for it while it was under development. The consumer name is "Tegra 3".

And really, who cares? I love my Asus Transformer tablet, and I love my Hasbro Transformer toys! :lol:

Asus should just pay a royalty to Hasbro to use the name, just like LG with their 'Optimus' line, and Motorola with their 'Droids'. Heck, they are probably already paying Microsoft royalty fees to use Android 3.2/4.0 software...

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:36 pm

Jesterhead wrote:Heck, they are probably already paying Microsoft royalty fees to use Android 3.2/4.0 software...

Why would they be paying Microsoft?

News Credits: 1 · by **Jesterhead** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:54 pm

Burn wrote:
Jesterhead wrote:Heck, they are probably already paying Microsoft royalty fees to use Android 3.2/4.0 software...

Why would they be paying Microsoft?

Android violates a number of Microsofts software patents. Google would not step up and defend their OEM partners and take the hit themselves, so it came down to the individual hardware manufacturers to pay up licensing fees. Microsoft is trying to make it harder and harder for an OEM to justify using Android on their smartphones, hoping to push them into using their own Windows Phone 7 OS instead.

What's another few bucks thrown Hasbro's way when some manufacturers are paying MS up to $15 USD for each handset sold...

Like chonosmoon on Facebook · by **chonosmoon** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:18 am

wow brutal

News Credits: 3 · by **Kibble** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:52 pm

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?

News Credits: 668 · by **Autobot032** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:57 pm

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?

News Credits: 5749 · by **El Duque** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:00 pm

Remember back in December when we reported that Hasbro had sued Asus over their converting laptop tablet PC Transformer Prime? It would appear that Hasbro has lost this legal battle. According to SlashGear Hasbro's attempt to ban sales of the device were rejected by a US judge. Click here to read the full story.

From the judge presiding over the case:

There is nothing gimmicky about the Eee Pad Transformer or the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, nor can it be said that there is any similarity in the use or function between Hasbro and Asus’s products.

by **Rated X** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:10 pm

LMAO !!!

Hasbro get a life...

News Credits: 37 · by **SlyTF1** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:16 pm

I can't help but to think that Hasbro was just trollin'. :HEADHURTS:

Serious, but trolling none the less.

Like Kylehudson1996 on Facebook · by **Kylehudson1996** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:23 pm

Well Hasbro, what did u think was gonna happen?! U sued a company that makes a completely different product, but just has a slightly similar name to ONE of your endless products :roll:

U were never going to win :lol:

News Credits: 2 · by **paul053** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:31 pm

Totally unnecessary. Hasbro, save your money on lawsuit and give us better toys.

by **Pinoytron** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:34 pm

HASBRO=FAIL :lol:

News Credits: 11 · by **kirbenvost** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:35 pm

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.

by **Pinoytron** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:44 pm

paul053 wrote:Totally unnecessary. Hasbro, save your money on lawsuit and give us better toys.

I Agree!!

News Credits: 32 · by **UltraPrimal** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:46 pm

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.

News Credits: 21 · by **dragons** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:03 pm

not to change subject but im surprised there was no mentioned of this hub when channel hub for kids was released on the air
http://www.thehubsite.com/#/about-the-hub/photo-tour.

this waste of hasbro money i read
heres soemthing funny
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-dumbe ... mtx?page=3

by **Galactic Prime** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:29 pm

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

News Credits: 8 · by **Forgotten** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:35 pm

Hasbro, you silly, silly people. Asus had been designing this thing under the same name for quite some time. It was simply a matter of coincidence, no malicious intent on Asus' behalf. Glad the judge ruled for them as I believe this was a ludicrous legal endeavor in the first place.