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ASUS Not Phased By Hasbro Lawsuit – Continues Rolling Out Transformer Primes

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Like water off a duck’s back, ASUS seems to be unphased by their legal troubles with Hasbro. Despite being slapped with a lawsuit — which has to do with ASUS taking advantage of Hasbro’s “Transformer” and “Prime” trademarks — it’s all business as usual for the Taiwanese company who expects to continue pumping out Transformer Primes to meet demand. ASUS also claims to have held their own internal studies and found “no issue” with the Transformer Prime and it’s association with Hasbro’s popular tv shows/movies/toys. This is great news for those who have been planning on picking up the supertablet with the lawsuit having no affect on supply — for now.

[FocusTaiwan via TheVerge]

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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58 Comments

  1. i dont see them rolling out anywhere…

    1. What you did there, I see it, and I like it. 

    2. mine rolled right out from under my christmas tree and into my hands!!!!

      1. wtf lucky
        i wanted one so much for christmas but they wernt avalable
        besides i got a windows phone and i love it
        but now im just going to see what CES brings us and pay for it myself

        1. Troll!! Troll!!
          What the hell dude!!
          This isn’t a windows forum!!
          Troll!!
          Haha hey buddy like why are you on an Android forum?!?!

          1. lol i love android to i was just saying
            hell i want to buy the GS3 when it comes out too

    3. Because it’s Transform *then* roll out.

      And all I got for Christmas was a wrapped backorder notice with a really nice bow.

  2. Wait. You’re telling me I didn’t buy an Autobot?

    God d*****.

    1. You must have never created anything.
      Was there no original name that Asus couldn’t come up with?
      Asian companies are slime

      1. how bout Asus Mr Potato Head?

        1. Asus Jackie Chan would have been cool

          1. ATL STFU, Ur ignorance is making me nauseous. u racist fukstiq.  And how is Asus biting off of Hasbro???? if thats the case, then how come people who invented telephone poles with TRANSFORMERS havent sued the shyt outta hasbro??? or how bout Arithmetic geniuses, how come they havent sued the fuq out of Hasbro for using the term PRIME??? If u can’t even make a decent argument, at least have the decency to keep ur racist shyt to urself. GOT DAMMIT.   >:( 

            p.s. FUUUUUK U

          2. Jackie Chan would do a badaas round house to your head for your horrible use of the English language, you’re unreal ignorance of how the trademark and copyright systems work and your horrible sentence structure.
            LOL you really compared this to the mathematical prime concept and electric power transformers?
            ROFL!!!

          3. LOL what the FUCK do you have against Jackie Chan?

          4. For a start, the electrical device on the power poles are not trademarked with the name “Transformer”.  In that case, it’s a generic term like “resistor”.  There’s no legal issue there.

            Next you look at reasonable expectation of confusion.  Originally the Autobots and Deceptacons were vehicles that became robots.  Had things stayed that way, there might not be an issue.  However, in the Michael Bay movie (original) Transformers could be radios, and yes: cell phones.  Now there’s a case.

          5. @The Moose Speaks: Actually, Autobots were cars, planes, radios, microscopes, etc, and Decepticons were airplanes, guns, tanks, cassete tape player, etc.

          6. Does anyone speak retard? I gave up after seeing “Ur” preceding “ignorance” (enough irony there to build a supertanker).
            Cpt. Laney should punch you in your cocksucker repeatedly with brass knuckles or a rib wrench until you learn something that remotely resembles English.
            You are a disgrace to anyone with an education above preschool and an embarrassment to the human race.
            I think I’ll go throw up my stomach lining now.

        2. Asus fingerprint magnet

      2. Yes they should probably do something keeping in mind the great American companies such as Apple.

        Create a product, name it the ‘iPad’, go to the Asian country where it had been trademarked a decade ago, and try to run them down by alleging infringements on the alphabets.

        What’s next, suing Kindergarteners learning ‘A’ for Apple? They should probably change it to Android anyway :)

        Lesson learnt, thank you.

      3. I created that comment thank you very much.

        Anyway, it’s not like Asus named it the “BumbleOptiHide Prime”

        They simply took the name from the original tablet and played with the Prime nomenclature we all though the Nexus would have. I highly doubt they want to be associated with anything Michael Bay has touched anyway. 

      4. Apple must be Asian

        1. Cool story bro…..

      5. So i guess nobody can ever use the word transform again without getting sued? Thank god the Galaxy Nexus wasn’t the nexus prime, don’t want to get sued. . . Can I go eat an Apple? Are we still calling them that or will we get sued?
        They didn’t copy made up words directly related to a product like Frisbee or Hula-Hoop. Did they sue LG for having the Optimus? 

        But then again, sueing is the American way.

        Trademark regular words
        Sue everybody
        ??????????????
        Profit!!!!

        1. 100 pounds of pure Retard retard.
          Please stop commenting on things you don’t know anything about.

          1. Hasbro didn’t sue LG for the Optimus or Optimus Black or even the Optimus One. So why sue now?

            You have nothing to say other than call me retarded and say asian companies are slime. Your opinion is of no value until you say something of importance.

            The Transformer was named such because it is a tablet with a docking keyboard. It transforms. Why shouldn’t they be able to use a name that describes their item?

          2. Had they just called it the transformer I’d agree with you somewhat, but calling it the transformer prime does cause confusion, Ive only told one person about this device in person but the first thing they said was does hasbro make it?

          3. @ClayRogers:disqus are you really that stupid to mistake a action figure for a tablet that turns in to a laptop?

          4. Because it’s not called Optimus Prime like their character. Get a fuckin clue sunshine

          5. Product confusion is not the main thing here. You can’t use someones trademark in order to profit.

          6. Clay, you either spoke to a retard or someone who already knows about the lawsuit. Find a million people, whether they have have heard of Optimus Prime and the Transformers or not but who have NOT heard of this lawsuit and I bet 8 out of

      6. The word “transformer” is generic enough, and so is “prime.” Both are proper English words found in English dictionaries. “Transformer” describes their tablet perfectly as it transforms into a netbook. Why should ASUS avoid choosing a generic English word, just because some company used it to describe their fictional cartoon characters?

        1. According to trademark law you can trademark 2 generic words if the sum is unique, and transformer prime in my opinion is.

          1. Absolutely! Asus knew EXACTLY what they were doing and the added recognition that name would bring.

      7. Apple and iPhone isn’t quite original in their own rights either and its an american company.

        1. We’re not talking about Apple here.

  3. Just wait in till the end of the 2012 they will be under 400 like all tablets ill let the software catch up first.How many tegra 2 games are there like 12 so no need to buy on yet. This is no big surprise why would they use these names  

  4. Arrogance is not good. They should work out a deal with Hasbro.

    1. yea they won’t win this..  certainly since Verizon has paid to use Lucasfilm’s “DROID” trademark from day one.  Very similar circumstances.  

      1. Exactly! You can’t use someones work to sell your product and not expect that company to have a problem with it.

        1. I think Verizon got permission to use the word Droid before marketing it.

          1. Yes, they license it from Lucas Arts.

        2. Hey moron, if that were the case,why are there so many products with transformer? 
          http://www.trademarkia.com/trademarks-search.aspx?tn=transformer

          1. Do you not read? They don’t have a problem with using Transformer they have a problem with Transformer Prime together. Got it?

          2. How much of a difference is it really? Its not like they are gonna lose any sort of money from it they are two different products with different markets.

      2. Droid only became a word after starwars. They made it. Transformer was always around. As far as I know, 2 companies can use the same name for a model if the word was pre-existing and the markets are different.

         2 Phone companies can’t use revolution, but LG has one and so does icomfort (Serta matresses). Since they are complete different markets, there is no problem.

        1. I agree w/that.  Just using Optimus (LG), or Transformer, isn’t enough.  The issue is when they use BOTH “Transformer” and “Prime” regarding a product in a field that has been commonly marketed as robotic devices (android, droid, etc etc.)  Before Asus ever released details of a transformer prime device, those two words combined had solely related to Hasbro trademarks.  Those are the issues, and they certainly have a case.

  5. Hmmmm….does that mean we can’t have a “shock wave” either…I was so looking forward to a media tablet named shock wave

  6. Good thing they weren’t phased.  Hasbro lawyers with phasers would faze me, though.

  7. Funny thing is… I made the joke way back when this tab was just rumours that they would be sued by the creator of transformers for using “Prime” and “Transformer” in the same title.

    I was almost right… I never thought my joke would come to life. In today’s day n age, I’m not really surprised. Everyone is trying to cash in from lawsuits, why not hasbro right?

    1. IP owners have to protect trademarks of they can lose the rights to them.  Trademarks are a big deal, and losing them can cost a company millions in revenue.

      And Hasbro has a solid case.  Would anyone ever identify a cell phone with a transformer?  Michael Bay did. 

      1. Plus Asus is using that name to make a profit.

      2. Its not even the same product or even in that general area. Its just a word.

  8. I would like to see the Asus Bumblebee next year…

  9. Yes. Transformer is a proper word. So is Prime. Congratulations to all of you legal experts that own a dictionary. Transformers Prime (that’s Transformers with an “s”) is the name of a TV show that Hasbro has been airing since 2010. Seriously. One letter off from the Asus tablet. Someone at Asus needs to be fired for letting this clear legal. Sloppy work that only a brain damaged fanboy can defend. Better hope it’s the judge’s first day on the job. And that he’s drunk. 

  10. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a limited edition Optimus Prime version to appease Hasbro.

  11. OPTIMUSSSSSSSS!!!

  12. If they were smart, they’d strike a licensing deal with Hasbro and create a more expensive version of the Transformer Prime with Autobot logos on it and some Transformers wallapapers and notification sounds of something… like VZW and Motorola did with the Droid R2-D2.

    Cheap to make, and the hard-core Transformer nerd would be all over it.

  13. I can’t believe they actually used the word “Prime” hehe.
    Their legal department must be bat-shit crazy if they don’t think there’s a problem.

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