Intel has filed a request for declaratory judgment against Psion Teklogix to overturn its trademark of the term "Netbook." The company, created out of the merger of Psion and Teklogix, has held the trademark since 2000 but has not made use of it.

At least not until last month. Then Psion began reaffirming its netbook trademark, as it called it. The company started sending cease and desist letters to journalists, bloggers and vendors, reportedly ordering them to stop using the term by this March. It even managed to get Google to ban the term from AdSense ads.

Dell, which has been enjoying good sales of its Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, was one of the targets, and it fought back. Earlier this month it filed a dispute with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to overturn the patent.

This would be the height of irony. Late last year, Dell applied for and received a trademark for the term "cloud computing." After howls of protest, the USPTO reversed the trademark.

Psion did not return calls seeking comment as of publication.

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