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RIM files 'SurfBook' trademark in Canada, cyberspace awaits

It's pretty common for companies in the heat of product development to file for trademarks, domain names, and patents first and ask questions later, so we can understand (we guess) that RIM took the initiative to put the milquetoast "BlackPad" on lock earlier this year for the tablet it's almost certainly working on -- the logic, of course, is that if you fire enough shots in the dark, at least one of your filings isn't going to suck. To that end, it looks like the boys and girls in Waterloo filed for "SurfBook" in early August, though it's only showing up in Canada's filing system at this point -- there's no matching documentation in the USPTO just yet. Obviously, applying the word "surf" to anything electronic at this point evokes the pleasingly vintage phrase "surfing through cyberspace," which leads us to believe you'll probably be able to use the SurfPad to browse the World Wide Web and swap warez on your favorite BBS. Keep trying, RIM. No, wait -- definitely use SurfPad.