THE NOTEBOOK COMPANY promotes Dell via Laptop.co.za/Dell Instead of DellLaptop.co.za

DELL

After heading for what seemed like an expensive court battle, The Notebook Company (Notebook.co.za and Laptop.co.za) - a leading notebook and accessories retailer and on-line retailer - has agreed to have the domain name DellLaptop.co.za deleted and will now promote Dell Laptops underLaptop.co.za/Dell. The company has also replaced the Dell Logo on its websites: www.laptop.co.za and www.notebook.co.za with "Dell PartnerDirect Registered" logos in terms of what was requested by Dell.

This follows four months of ongoing negotiations after Dell informed The Notebook Company – via its lawyers, Adams & Adams – that all the Dell logos must be removed from any signage, websites or material material displayed by The Notebook Company.

Until recently it looked as if the companies were poised for a court battle.

Said Christopher Riley, Ceo of The Notebook Company: “Dell owns the trademark, and we seem to have no right using it without their permission, even though we have sold their products for over 10 years. We also buy from their official distribution channel - During this period  we have also  been made a ‘Dell PartnerDirect Registered’ agent.    

 “I am still of the belief that you will not find this kind of silliness from other brands that have used the channel for a long time. Technically, each time you see an advert using logos of products such as HP, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, Acer  from a retailer they should have received permission from  the trademark holder to display the logo. We all know this does not happen. But there seems to be a gentleman's agreement that if you don't create damage for my brand I will allow you to use my brand's name in adverts and materials without pointing out the technicalities of the law to you.

It still concerns me that Dell makes is quite difficult for prospective customers to find retailers of its products - We still have difficulty promoting Dell even through Google - Dell is not allowed in the advert text - Making it difficult to say - We sell Dell!