SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. technology giant Motorola Corp. has been hit with a legal roadblock on release of the Xoom computer tablet, court papers show.
Xoom Corp. filed suit asking for temporary and permanent injunctions against Motorola's use of the name, CBS BNET reported Friday.
With the tablet already in production and packaging ready, it would seriously derail Motorola's attempt to compete with Apple's iPad and other tablet computers should Xoom Corp. prevail.
The core question the court needs to answer is whether the trademark crossover would actually confuse consumers. Xoom Corp.'s trademark covered an online advertising service but that was altered in 2003 to a business that manages information on money transfers. The U.S. District Court for Northern California will have to decide if consumers will confuse a financial service with a computer tablet.
To some, that might seem far-fetched, leading BNET to ask if Apple was behind the lawsuit, because Sequoia Capital, an early investor in Apple, has also invested in Xoom Corp.
