Xoom sues Motorola over new tablet computer with same name
Xoom Corp., operator of a money-transfer website, sued Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for trademark infringement over the new “Xoom” tablet computer that went on sale yesterday.
Xoom Corp., based in San Francisco, said it has been offering its online service since 2003 and registered the trademark for the name in 2004, according to a complaint filed Feb. 23 in federal court in San Francisco.
“To confuse and mislead consumers, Motorola without authorization deliberately and unlawfully appropriated Xoom's trade name and trademark rights,” the company said in the complaint.
Schaumburg-based Motorola put its Xoom tablet computer on sale yesterday in the U.S. through Verizon Communications Inc.'s wireless unit to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad. The Xoom runs on Google Inc.'s Android Honeycomb software. Xoom.com allows users to transmit money through the website to more than 30 countries.
Motorola declined to comment, saying in a statement that it hadn't yet been served with a complaint.
Motorola Mobility's trademark application was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in December, which said it was too similar to one owned by Zoom Telephonics Inc. in Boston, according to information on the trademark office's website.
On Feb. 10, Motorola Mobility told the trademark office that it and Zoom had agreed there wouldn't be any confusion “because of the material differences in the goods and services which they each offer,” according to the trademark website. Zoom Telephonics makes modems and other communications products.
Two days later, the agency agreed to make the application public to see if anyone else would oppose it, the website said.
Xoom Corp. filed additional applications Jan. 24 for use of the Xoom name for a website and software related to money transfers, according to the trademark website.
Xoom Corp. also charged that Motorola purchased the Xoom keyword for online search engines. Closely held Xoom is backed by venture firms Sequoia Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Fidelity Ventures, according to its website.
The Xoom tablet sells for about $600 with a two-year Verizon contract and about $800 without one. It will compete with an iPad model priced at $729, as well as with less- expensive tablets from HTC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co.
The case is Xoom Corp. v. Motorola Trademark Holdings LLC, 11-0848, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).