Hasbro Sues ASUS Over Transformer Name

the problem is the use of "transformer" and "prime" in combination and the meaning it conveys.
transformer is fine by itself but adding the prime to convey a meaning of better upgraded machine.
It was the transformers cartoon that built the image of "prime" being the "leader" of the transformers.
ASUS is trying to do the same - using the meaning behind the word "prime"
 
Oh man, I was going to buy one of these tablets, fully expecting it to turn into a robot, become my buddy and help me hookup with Megan fox.

damn you ASUS for crushing my dream with your false advertising !

Seriously though, the branding was pretty obviously intended to tie back to Hasbro's brand. I don't Hasbro is in the wrong by saying "hey dude, WTF ??"
 
I don't see how they can claim damages. They are two totally different products that don't even remotely compete against each other.

Doesn't seem any different than Apple Records and Apple Computers. Didn't cause any problems until Apple started selling music. So until Asus starts selling overpriced pieces of plastic that transform into something that might resemble a robot... are there any damages?
 
Demon10000 said:
I don't see how they can claim damages. They are two totally different products that don't even remotely compete against each other.

Doesn't seem any different than Apple Records and Apple Computers. Didn't cause any problems until Apple started selling music. So until Asus starts selling overpriced pieces of plastic that transform into something that might resemble a robot... are there any damages?
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Actually you are wrong there... Apple Records and Apple Computers have been fighting in court since the 80's over the Apple name... it wasn't until recently they worked out a deal, which was basically a trade, give use the Apple name, and we will put your music on iTunes (The Beatles), and we BOTH make money.
 
Demon10000 said:
I don't see how they can claim damages. They are two totally different products that don't even remotely compete against each other.
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It's not about damages it's about confusion. Will a judge agree with Hasbro that customers will see "Transformer Prime" and think it's referencing the Transformers(the robots, and specifically Optimus Prime)? That's all that matters.
 
Spewn said:
It's not about damages it's about confusion. Will a judge agree with Hasbro that customers will see "Transformer Prime" and think it's referencing the Transformers(the robots, and specifically Optimus Prime)? That's all that matters.
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If you are a fan of the Transformers you WILL make the connection when you hear Transformer Prime, it's impossible not to. As I said before the FIRST thing I thought of when I heard of the Transformer Prime was indeed Optimus Prime.
 
heatlesssun said:
If you are a fan of the Transformers you WILL make the connection when you hear Transformer Prime, it's impossible not to. As I said before the FIRST thing I thought of when I heard of the Transformer Prime was indeed Optimus Prime.
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Exactly. Also Hasbro has ever right to sue for damages. That is part of what you have to deal with when you rip off a trademark someone else owns. ASUS deserves to lose this one.
 
There are many things that I sub consciously make a connection of to something else I'm a fan on. Stuff like that happens everywhere.

Unless Hasbro have specifically trademark the term "transformers prime', both are generic words. The word prime its a common word with a meaning to it. Anyone can also claim they think of Optimus Prime whenever they hear the word prime, what can you do, its just the way people's mind works.

If you want to ensure nobody can use your trademark in any way at all, don't use common words with meanings to it
 
Hornet said:
There are many things that I sub consciously make a connection of to something else I'm a fan on. Stuff like that happens everywhere.

Unless Hasbro have specifically trademark the term "transformers prime', both are generic words. The word prime its a common word with a meaning to it. Anyone can also claim they think of Optimus Prime whenever they hear the word prime, what can you do, its just the way people's mind works.

If you want to ensure nobody can use your trademark in any way at all, don't use common words with meanings to it
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There is a cartoon named Transformers Prime currently airing on TV
 
"Transformer" is not I word I had ever heard except in regard to the toy. An electrical "transformer" is a different word.

I've heard for worse trademark claims. And, I hate it when companies get to own words. Like, Microsoft getting to own "windows". "Windows" in reference to a window on the screen predates Microsoft's use of the term for the same, applied to the name of their OS.
 
Hornet said:
There are many things that I sub consciously make a connection of to something else I'm a fan on. Stuff like that happens everywhere.
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Not like this. There's no way you can be a fan of the Transformers and not think of Optimus Prime when hearing "Transformer Prime". Asus could have called it the Transformer 2, Transformer Plus, Transformer Deluxe, etc. but instead chose Transformer Prime. Why? I think it's pretty clear that Asus picked up on it too and that's why they chose Transformer Prime. I don't think the name Transformer Prime would even mean as much without the reference to Optimus Prime and I think that's the issue. Asus is leveraging the name even though they aren't actually causing any market confusion.
 
heatlesssun said:
Not like this. There's no way you can be a fan of the Transformers and not think of Optimus Prime when hearing "Transformer Prime". Asus could have called it the Transformer 2, Transformer Plus, Transformer Deluxe, etc. but instead chose Transformer Prime. Why? I think it's pretty clear that Asus picked up on it too and that's why they chose Transformer Prime. I don't think the name Transformer Prime would even mean as much without the reference to Optimus Prime and I think that's the issue. Asus is leveraging the name even though they aren't actually causing any market confusion.
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I honestly thought ASUS licensed the name from Hasbro because there is a colossal level of stupidity involved in thinking you can get away with this. There is no way ASUS can possibly defend that they weren't trying to invoke the Transformers name at least on some level.
 
fattypants said:
They should sue Amazon for Prime and any company that makes electrical transformers.
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I never thought about Optimus Prime when I first heard of Amazon Prime. Really, who here is a Transformers fan and didn't think of Optimus Prime when they first heard of the Transformer Prime. If you didn't you couldn't possibly be a Transformers fan.
 
Derangel said:
I honestly thought ASUS licensed the name from Hasbro because there is a colossal level of stupidity involved in thinking you can get away with this. There is no way ASUS can possibly defend that they weren't trying to invoke the Transformers name at least on some level.
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Really, the only way to make the reference more obvious would be for Asus to make ads with the phrase "More than meets the eye." in them.

I sympathize here with Hasbro because there's a history of people ripping off the Transformers franchise. If you're my age it's hard to forget all of the obvious rip off cartoons due to the Transformers incredible popularity in the early 80s, like the GoBots. They could have called it the Transformer Leader 1 and nobody would care or even get it.
 
I guess my question is, how does this damage Hasbro? Wouldn't it simply raise awareness of the original Transformers and get Hasbro more sales ;)
 
RealityCrunch said:
I guess my question is, how does this damage Hasbro? Wouldn't it simply raise awareness of the original Transformers and get Hasbro more sales ;)
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The way I understand it is with trademarks laws you have to defend every potential offense you are aware of. If you pick and choose your battles you can be called on it in court and potentially lose the rights associated with it. Or something like that I'm neither a lawyer nor someone that holds any trademarks so I could be totally wrong.
 
RealityCrunch said:
I guess my question is, how does this damage Hasbro? Wouldn't it simply raise awareness of the original Transformers and get Hasbro more sales ;)
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It's not that it damages Hasbro but helps Asus by leveraging Hasbro's IP and thus Asus gains without any compensation to Hasbro. Again, Asus could have called it the Transformer Ultra, any of a zillion different things but chose Transformer Prime, that was not a confidence and they had to understand the reference, it's too damned obvious and yet did it anyway. That's why I think Asus is in the wrong here.
 
Ahh, I see I see. In that case, yeah, ASUS should be providing compensation for profits gained based on the name.

As a side topic, wouldn't this swing both ways a bit? Say I put up a sign to sell Lemonade, calling the "Optimus Lemonade". On the one hand I make more profit due to the brand name, on the other hand, Hasbro makes more profit due to the advertising of their name. I wonder if this gets counted at all in the courts.
 
RealityCrunch said:
As a side topic, wouldn't this swing both ways a bit? Say I put up a sign to sell Lemonade, calling the "Optimus Lemonade". On the one hand I make more profit due to the brand name, on the other hand, Hasbro makes more profit due to the advertising of their name. I wonder if this gets counted at all in the courts.
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This is logical. I'm not a lawyer but in this case it's fairly easy to see how Asus gains. I can't see how Hasbro gains in that I don't see how the name of an Android tablet promotes Hasbro's Transformer franchise. The Transformers is a practically a cultural icon, the Asus tablet will never be, that honor belongs to the iPad.
 
heatlesssun said:
This is logical. I'm not a lawyer but in this case it's fairly easy to see how Asus gains. I can't see how Hasbro gains in that I don't see how the name of an Android tablet promotes Hasbro's Transformer franchise. The Transformers is a practically a cultural icon, the Asus tablet will never be, that honor belongs to the iPad.
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Since you brought up the iPad: ASUS could have done what Apple does. CISCO owns the iOS name, Apple licenses it.
 
Derangel said:
Since you brought up the iPad: ASUS could have done what Apple does. CISCO owns the iOS name, Apple licenses it.
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Yeah, my guess is that Asus will simply change the name as I would imagine Hasbro will want a pretty penny if they win this.
 
Man, I wish I could sue people like that.
*Applies for random daily word trademarks.
 
How can you claim a patent on a word like transformer. Go look at the power lines. And Prime, are you joking? We can start with all math books and go from there. Headed home to burn all my hasbro toys, and take the boxed ones back to the store.
 
DejaWiz said:
ASUS Transformer, not Hasbro Transformers. "Transformer" and "Prime" are used in so many product names, item descriptions/definition, and slogans, it's ridiculous for Hasbro to target ASUS for infringement.
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but be honest, when you hear Transformer Prime what was the first thing that popped into your head? I know for me it is the Hasbro image. I have even see the major tech sites using an image of Optimus Prime on their articles about the Prime over the last 6 months.....
 
DejaWiz said:
I see absolutely nothing in the meaning of the words that refers to trademarked robotic toys.

Is Hasbro going to sue Verizon/Samsung over the Nexus Prime?

"Well fuck us purple, they had the Nexus before, but now they've thrown the word "Prime" on the ass-end of it! Sue them quick, lest we be damaged!"
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it's not called the Nexus Prime, they dropped the Prime and went with Galaxy Nexus....could even be because Hasbro was protecting their trademark
 
I bet there is some company out there that had a product called "transformer" long before Hasbro so this is their golden opportunity to sue Hasbro seeing as Hasbro are douchebag enough to think they own the word exclusively. Scumbags.
 
Yobbles said:
I bet there is some company out there that had a product called "transformer" long before Hasbro so this is their golden opportunity to sue Hasbro seeing as Hasbro are douchebag enough to think they own the word exclusively. Scumbags.
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As though millions of people don't instantly think of a specific character from a specific cartoon when hearing the phrase "Transformer Prime". No one here has challenged this and that's the problem with Asus's use of the term. There's simply nothing random or generic about the phrase "Transformer Prime". Why didn't Asus call it the Transformer 2, Transformer Deluxe, Transformer Plus, Transformer Next, etc?

The Transformers is a cultural icon and it's beyond obvious that Asus is leveraging this in the name Transformer Prime, a DIRECT reference to the major character in the Transformer universe. It's not random, it's not generic and it's plainly obvious.
 
RealityCrunch said:
As a side topic, wouldn't this swing both ways a bit? Say I put up a sign to sell Lemonade, calling the "Optimus Lemonade". On the one hand I make more profit due to the brand name, on the other hand, Hasbro makes more profit due to the advertising of their name. I wonder if this gets counted at all in the courts.
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The problem then becomes that your use of their trademark is a liability for them; What if you make some people sick? What if your lemonade sucks? Why should they have to put their brand on the line so that YOU can sell extra lemonade?
 
I don't know why people are bringing up the definition of a word. That has absolutely no meaning in this context considering a lot of companies / brands are named after everyday things (apple? windows?).

On a side note, I just told my girlfriend that I'm going to get a transformer prime. She was a little confused and thought I was buying a Hasbro toy...
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
She was a little confused and thought I was buying a Hasbro toy...
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Why do people who think Asus isn't in the wrong here keep brining up this specious argument? It's not brand confusion that's the issue here, it's brand leveraging that's the problem. Asus is clearly leveraging the Transformers franchise with the name Transformer Prime.
 
heatlesssun said:
Why do people who think Asus isn't in the wrong here keep brining up this specious argument? It's not brand confusion that's the issue here, it's brand leveraging that's the problem. Asus is clearly leveraging the Transformers franchise with the name Transformer Prime.
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so Asus in trying to cash in on the trademark name of a Hasbro product.....how does that change anything?
 
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