Asus sued by toy robot maker for naming its tablet Transform

To be reminded of robots whenever the Asus Transformer tablets are mentioned is inevitable. After all, Hasbro's line of Transformers toy bots has enjoyed tremendous popularity in recent years, thanks to Michael Bay's film trilogy. The toy company thinks that the newest Asus tablet, the Transformer Prime, sounds a bit too much like one of its most popular robots, though. So, it decided to file a lawsuit against the computer maker in Los Angeles federal court.

We didn't hear anything from Hasbro when the first Transformer tablet was released, but it seems Asus crossed the line this time by naming its new device too close to Optimus Prime. "Hasbro continues to aggressively protect its brands and products and the specific actions we are taking today against Asus underscores yet again Hasbro's willingness to pursue companies who misappropriate our intellectual property for their own financial gain," the company wrote in an email to Paidcontent.

Hasbro's litigation would've usually been invalid based on current trademark law, since tablets and toy robots do not fall under the same category. The toy company asserts, however, that the Transformers brand is expanding, and it has to protect names associated with its products. Hasbro is currently seeking damages as well as a temporary injunction on the Transformer Prime, which has just started shipping from a few retailers this December 19.


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