• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, October 5, 2010

Google has not yet officially debuted Speedbook, rumored to be a new Chrome-OS tablet, but the company's attempt to trademark the name has already landed it in court.

In a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Oregon, technology company CollegeNet, which markets online scheduling and event-management software for schools, alleges that it owns the trademark to Speedbook. The company is seeking a declaratory judgment that its trademark will be infringed by Google's use of the term. CollegeNet also says it intends to seek an injunction banning Google from using the name for an upcoming tablet.

"Google is hundreds of times the size of CollegeNet, and if it were to use the Speedbook mark on a new product aimed at the entire consumer market, with a highly visible public launch, the association of the trademark with Google would forever ruin CollegeNet's ability to use that mark to signify CollegeNet's own existing and future products," CollegeNet argues in its papers.

Google has not yet officially confirmed that it intends to roll out the Speedbook tablet, but CollegeNet cites press reports speculating that Google could bow the device as early as next month. Google applied in August to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the name Speedbook.

The company did not respond to Online Media Daily's request for comment.

Even if Google intends to sell a tablet named Speedbook, doing so might not infringe CollegeNet's trademark for a business-to-business application service provider, says Internet law expert Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University. "These are pretty distinct categories," he says, adding that courts might not think it's likely that consumers would confuse CollegeNet's offering with a mass market consumer electronics product.

CollegeNet argues in its legal papers that one source of confusion would stem from the fact that its scheduling app could theoretically run on tablets -- including Google's. CollegeNet says that people who use its technology might mistakenly think that its use of Speedbook means that its programs are compatible with and optimized for Google's upcoming device.

This dispute marks at least the second lawsuit in recent weeks involving a trademark that incorporates the word "book." In late August, Facebook sought an injunction banning Teachbook -- a social networking site for teachers -- from continuing to use that name.