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...original version of this story has been updated with a response from Nintendo...
...Although it is pronounced (and almost spelled) the same, the Weemote is not the same as the Wiimote, the popular nickname for the remote control used in the blockbuster Nintendo video game system the Wii, which has so far sold 28 million units worldwide. Invented by a small Miami company called Fobis Technologies, the Weemote is a nifty television remote control specially designed for little kids that lets parents limit the channels their children surf. It was trademarked in 2000, long before the Wii debuted, which means the commercial use of the Wiimote moniker technically infringes on the Weemote brand...
...Still, you can probably guess which of the two remote-control names is a marketing steamroller (Wiimote) and which is trying to avoid getting flattened into so many transistor chips (Weemote). Nintendo doesn't actually use the term Wiimote in its marketing, but then, it doesn't have to. The Internet takes care of that. Online retailers, from Amazon.com to used-video-game vendors operating out of their houses, advertise the "Wiimote" on their sites, openly or via more obscure means like customer product tags and posted comments. As a result, says Fobis president John Stephen, since...
...proverbial David in the matter, Fobis first approached the Nintendo Goliath in hopes of working out a business solution, one that would give the Redmond, Wash., corporation control of the Weemote trademark - which would seem to make sense, since Nintendo has applied to trademark the Wiimote name in Europe - while helping Fobis rebrand its product. Corporate titans like Microsoft have resolved past trademark problems in similar fashion. Nintendo has so far balked at any such deal. In an email statement, Nintendo spokesperson Charlie Scibetta told TIME, "Because Nintendo does not use and does not plan to use the Weemote trademark...
...Fobis has had to confront the folks that it says are giving Nintendo, intentionally or not, the free ride. Amazon.com, for example, doesn't overtly peddle "Wiimotes" on its site. But if you Google "amazon.com" and "wiimote," you still get results for the actual Amazon portal, like a page for its "Wiimote customer community." (There's even a "community" for the Wiimote recharger...