The HTC ChaCha may still be months away from being launched, but it looks like the handset’s names is already causing a few issues for HTC. The first issue arose last week when ChaCha Inc. (the human powered search engine) sued HTC for Trademark Infringement over using their name. In addition to monetary compensation, ChaCha is also seeking an injunction with would bar HTC from releasing the Android handset with the ChaCha name.
We’re not legal experts, but from our understanding U.S. patents and trademarks are only valid in the U.S. and not the entire world. HTC does plan on bringing the HTC ChaCha to AT&T later this year, but when was the last time any HTC phone launched in the U.S. market with its original name?
The second issue with the ChaCha name was addressed by HTC Spain through their Twitter account. When the handset launches in Spain later this year, HTC will be calling it the ChaChaCha since the term ChaCha translates into maid, nanny, or even servant. As much as our phones do for us, we’d find it hard to market a handset called the “HTC Nanny.”
A bit of market research on HTC’s part could have gone a long way to avoid both issues, but we really don’t think these problems will be delaying the launch of HTC’s “Facebook” phone.
