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Motorola sued by Xoom Corp.

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2011 2:08 User comments (8)

Motorola sued by Xoom Corp.

Money transfer company Xoom Corp. has filed a trademark lawsuit against Motorola today, claiming it has used the name "Xoom" actively since 2003, and has an incontestable trademark on the name.
Motorola just released the Xoom Android tablet, the first real competitor to the market leading iPad because it runs on the tablet-optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.

Says the complaint (via Beta):

Through this long online use accessible via computer and mobile devices, Xoom's trade name and the XOOM products have become associated exclusively with Xoom. Until [the] Defendants' adoption of the Xoom brand without authorization from Xoom, Xoom to its knowledge was the only entity using the name or mark for online product offerings.


Xoom is asking for a permanent injunction on the sales of the Motorola tablet and treble damages.



For the most part, the transfer company's main concern seems to be a disruption of business to its website, because the keyword "Xoom" on search engines brings millions of hits relating to the tablet. However, when typing in "Xoom" in Google, the first natural hits are for Xoom.com, then followed by Motorola.com so the case may have limited weight.

Concludes the complaint:

Xoom has long used the wording 'Official Site' in conjunction with its website…and the products and services that it offers on the site, all of which increase the likelihood that consumers will be confused and misled as a result of Defendants' unauthorized use of Xoom's name and mark on the Internet, particularly with the wording 'Official.'

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8 user comments

125.2.2011 14:31

This actually makes some sense. Law suits of this nature and more often than not frivolous at best. But this could hold some water.
It's up to the judicial system to decide.
Even if Motorola was to change the name of the tablet it wouldn't hamper them as much as if Xoom had waited till they built up a strong product rep and recognition so I guess its good they did it this early.

225.2.2011 14:51
lissenup2
Inactive

I totally agree with you XYQO. This one's gonna hold some serious water. I have the strange feeling that Motorola knew about this and ignored it.

If they settle, consumers can probably expect a higher Xoom price.

325.2.2011 15:48

it seems to me that they could have said something even earlier... since the product has been announced for a while now, which means that they would have known it was going to happen, and they waited until the release to be able to place the law suit... but that's just my thoughts...

425.2.2011 15:56

Sometimes, they consider it based on whether it is confusing in the marketplace. I don't think people are going to confuse a money store w/ a touch tablet.

525.2.2011 17:36

Maybe Xoom knew early on and it took this long for the legal team, process to work. Seems like a valid case to me.

627.2.2011 03:42

wow Motorola getting sued a lot... last year getting sued by MS and 2 other company and now this one lol..

728.2.2011 00:30

in all fairness love and war. i never heard of the Xoom money tranfer company lol. remind me to not invent a tablet pc that is named Paypal

85.3.2011 19:55

In general trademark infringement claims aren't valid if the products behind the common trademark have nothing to do with each other. For example, there are all kinds of products named "Thunderbird" (e.g., a cheap wine and a car) and there is no trademark infringement. Even the case of the Beatles' Apple trademark and Apple, Inc. is not clear-cut and as far as I know has never been taken to court precisely because neither company is absolutely sure of the outcome and a loss would have major rebranding implications for either party.

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