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Lenovo sends cease-and-desist to Framework over a stylized letter “O”

44 points by goplayoutside 4y ago

stop50 4y ago
It looks more like ubuntus logo for me.
- smnrchrds 4y ago
  Don't give Lenovo any ideas.
  - stop50 4y ago
    Ubuntu is nearly 20 years old. They need a ton of money to find a argument why that symbol is still protected.
    - devwastaken 4y ago
      Lenovo doesn't have a case, it's a slap lawsuit. Ubuntu isn't targeted because it's not a competitor. The reason new companies can't compete in hardware is 1. Patents/IP, 2. Supply chain control and 3. Bad behavior from competing companies.
      - tinus_hn 4y ago
        It isn’t a slap lawsuit, it’s an lawsuit to prevent the trademark from being lost. You have to defend trademarks or you lose them. Chances are the suit is filed by their trademark lawyers or even third party, and no higher up at Lenovo had anything to do with it. I doubt their trademark is for the broken o though because that’s far too common. It’s more probable it is for the whole word including the stylized o. So the suit is pretty weak and only works because this is an opponent that probably isn’t going to be able to mount a defense.
    - GekkePrutser 4y ago
      Ubuntu has been around a lot longer than the Legion laptop range so it would be them suing Lenovo I guess
liminalsunset 4y ago
Yeah, they look similar, but this pattern is so commonly, and functionally used that I'm surprised they would make this claim. As it turns out, this is one of the most popular patterns to use for a cutout for fan grilles on fans, particularly 40mm and under. You might find this exact pattern on anything from air quality sensors to battery chargers to server power supplies. The reason is simple - a large number of computer fans have the support struts arranged around the hub in this pattern, and putting the grill spokes there happens to reduce airflow obstruction.
guerby 4y ago
Source tweet : https://twitter.com/FrameworkPuter/status/1560317928397889537 https://twitter.com/FrameworkPuter/status/156031792839788953...
sennight 4y ago
So any electronics baring a circle with an accent involving thirds is owned by Lenovo huh? Watch out Chromium, they might be able to burn even more goodwill than they did with SuperFish. What am I talking about... obviously they're capable of worse - just look what they did to the beloved Thinkpad keyboard.
puyoxyz 4y ago
As far as I understand, since they do look the same and are both in the same field/industry (laptops), they have to do this or else someone else could infringe on their trademark and not get in trouble because they didn’t enforce it in the past.
legacynl 4y ago
How come they were able to trademark a segmented circle in the first place?
ac130kz 4y ago
Trying to sue a company having such a media influence in the industry (thanks to Linus), a huge mistake made by unprofessional managers at Lenovo

44 points by goplayoutside 4y ago

stop50 4y ago

It looks more like ubuntus logo for me.

smnrchrds 4y ago
Don't give Lenovo any ideas.
- stop50 4y ago
  Ubuntu is nearly 20 years old. They need a ton of money to find a argument why that symbol is still protected.
  - devwastaken 4y ago
    Lenovo doesn't have a case, it's a slap lawsuit. Ubuntu isn't targeted because it's not a competitor. The reason new companies can't compete in hardware is 1. Patents/IP, 2. Supply chain control and 3. Bad behavior from competing companies.
    - tinus_hn 4y ago
      It isn’t a slap lawsuit, it’s an lawsuit to prevent the trademark from being lost. You have to defend trademarks or you lose them. Chances are the suit is filed by their trademark lawyers or even third party, and no higher up at Lenovo had anything to do with it. I doubt their trademark is for the broken o though because that’s far too common. It’s more probable it is for the whole word including the stylized o. So the suit is pretty weak and only works because this is an opponent that probably isn’t going to be able to mount a defense.
  - GekkePrutser 4y ago
    Ubuntu has been around a lot longer than the Legion laptop range so it would be them suing Lenovo I guess

liminalsunset 4y ago

Yeah, they look similar, but this pattern is so commonly, and functionally used that I'm surprised they would make this claim. As it turns out, this is one of the most popular patterns to use for a cutout for fan grilles on fans, particularly 40mm and under. You might find this exact pattern on anything from air quality sensors to battery chargers to server power supplies. The reason is simple - a large number of computer fans have the support struts arranged around the hub in this pattern, and putting the grill spokes there happens to reduce airflow obstruction.

guerby 4y ago

Source tweet : https://twitter.com/FrameworkPuter/status/1560317928397889537 https://twitter.com/FrameworkPuter/status/156031792839788953...

sennight 4y ago

So any electronics baring a circle with an accent involving thirds is owned by Lenovo huh? Watch out Chromium, they might be able to burn even more goodwill than they did with SuperFish. What am I talking about... obviously they're capable of worse - just look what they did to the beloved Thinkpad keyboard.

puyoxyz 4y ago

As far as I understand, since they do look the same and are both in the same field/industry (laptops), they have to do this or else someone else could infringe on their trademark and not get in trouble because they didn’t enforce it in the past.

legacynl 4y ago

How come they were able to trademark a segmented circle in the first place?

ac130kz 4y ago

Trying to sue a company having such a media influence in the industry (thanks to Linus), a huge mistake made by unprofessional managers at Lenovo