Palm lays the smack down on Pre theme for Android

Filed under: Software, Palm, Android, webOS

Android's supposed to be all about peace, love, and openness, but that apparently doesn't exempt it from copyright law and trigger-happy general counsels (who knew?). In a move that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, Palm has sicced its legal team on the makers of the aptly-named "Palm Pre Android Theme" that borrows icons, wallpapers, and mojo (not to be confused with Mojo) directly from webOS. The concerns center around the usual suspects -- graphics copyrights and trademark infringement -- and the company is demanding that they cease use of the Pre's interface, name, and all that good stuff by some date that's been redacted from the leaked letter (we're assuming it's soon). To be fair, Palm comes out and says that it "appreciates that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," but at the end of the day, they're concerned about the potential for consumer confusion. Interestingly, to the best of our knowledge, they haven't given the iPhone-based theme the same treatment -- but hey, maybe it's easier to confuse a Hero with a Pre than it is an iPhone... or something.

[Thanks, Justin]

Palm lays the smack down on Pre theme for Android originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source : http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/08/12/palm-puts...