Google to be sued over Nexus One name

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The family of the late Philip K. Dick, the author of the book on which the film Blade Runner was based, say they are to sue Google for infringement of intellectual property rights.

The search giant's new mobile phone, the Nexus One, has a similar name to a group of rogue androids from the film called "replicants" that are identified through the model designation Nexus-6. The phone's operating system is called Android.

Isa Dick Hackett, Dick's daughter, claims the names are lifted straight from her father's science fiction novel "Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?" Philip K. Dick's daughter was said to be "shocked and dismayed" at Google's naming of the phone without consultation.

"In my mind, there is a very obvious connection to my father’s novel," said Isa Dick Hackett, president of the Dick estate outfit that handles licensing of his work, a few months back. "We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn’t grant any sort of permissions."