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Google sued over Android name

by on04 May 2009

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Developer claims he invented it


Illinois
developer Erich Specht, sued Google and some 47 other companies in the Open Handset Alliance for using his trademark.

Specht claims he has the rights to the Android name which denotes Google's version of Linux that adorns their handsets. Specht has registered the trademark in 2000 and two years later, the US Patent and Trademark Office awarded the trademark to Android Data, Specht's company.

According to the USPTO, no application would be granted the exclusive right to use the term data, therefore making "android" that dominant word and the trademark. However Android Data  never amounted to anything and was dissolved in 2004.

Specht claims that he was not aware that Android was software and thought it was something to do with mobile hardware. Not surprisingly Google said that the case has no merit and it will defend against it. It would not surprise us, however, if it just gave him some money to go away and not tell us about it.
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