Hasbro sues Asus over Transformer moniker

Hasbro must have milked the Transformers franchise dry with three different blockbusters’ worth of merchandise, and it seems that they are going all out to protect their golden goose. In fact, the toy maker has sued Asus for allegedly “stealing” one of their trademarks – no prizes for guessing which one, the Transformer Prime. Hasbro claims that the name ‘Transformer Prime’ is a clear cut example of theft, citing Autobot leader Optimus Prime as the, er, prime example (pardon the pun, I could not resist it). Hasbro feels that Asus decided to ride ahead with the name as consumers would naturally make a mental connection between the convertible tablet and the Autobot leader.

Hasbro says, “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.” Do you think Asus might eventually be forced to rename their high powered tablet? I wonder whether the Asus executives realized that something like this might happen if they went ahead with the name.