A Portland based newspaper reported that the name is too similar to a trademark held by Portland based company Integra Telecom.
It’ll be interesting to see what Google does now.
Will they have to change the name of the Nexus One? I doubt that, surely they will come to some sort of agreement with Integra Telecom for rights to the name.
It’s surprising that this sort of thing can happen to such a large organization like Google. You would have thought they would do their research into the likelihood of getting the trademark before launching their first Android phone and something that was so anticipated. Maybe it just points to the slowness of the Patent and Trademark Office.
Integra has said
“”We appreciate that the PTO is protecting our trademark rights. Integra has over $60 Million in annual revenue associated with our Nexus brand and it represents millions of new revenue for the company each year. Google hasn’t contacted us since the PTO issued its objection but we hope we can work together to achieve our respective business goals.”
It’s timely news as on Tuesday the Nexus One became available on AT&T, putting it in direct competition with the iPhone which also runs with AT&T.
AT&T aren’t heavily involved with the Nexus One though. You won’t be able to buy it subsidized like you can with T-Mobile which sells the phone for $179 with a 2 year contract. To get the Nexus One on AT&T you’ll have to pay the full price from Google of $529. There are no contracts with this, you just get the ability to use the phone on the AT&T network.
The Nexus One will be on sale with Vodafone in Europe and the UK in the spring and it will also be available on Verizon very soon.
Will it still be called the Nexus One after courts ruled that it wasn’t allowed to use the name? Who knows, watch this space.
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