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Red Hat Founder Offers Help in Apple vs.Tiger Lawsuit
Art Vanderlay writes "Robert F. Young, a founder of Linux distributor Red Hat and now owner
of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Canadian football team, has offered Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs a
quick way out of a lawsuit by TigerDirect over the latest version of
Tiger. According to the Globe and Mail, Mr. Young
has offered to license the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' historical use of the
word Tiger to Apple free of charge. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have
been around since 1869. '136 years ago we were called The Tigers,' Mr.
Young said. 'If anyone owns the exclusive rights to the word tiger
with that much history and tradition, it's gotta be us.'"
I don't know whether that will be a whole lot of help, as service and trade marks are limited to being in respect of some specific area of trade/ practice, and I don't see a whole lot of overlap between sports teams and computer software.
If someone were looking for prior art, I think William Blake (1757-1827) got there before a Canadian football team:
The Tyger
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what the shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Humorous signatures are over-rated.
In other news Adams files suit over the use of the word 'Apple,' more at 11.
While the "free" license is a good gesture, it's also indirectly implying that Apple needs approval from other entities to trade, and that's the risk that shouldn't be ignored.
What if this Tiger-Cats is bought by another business?
And not to mention TigerDirect is more or less in the same trade (which determines the trademark's validity) as Apple, and sports is not yet computer hardware-related until robots start playing.
If Apple wants to trade as 'Apple' exclusively in computer hardware, then it must be prepared that TigerDirect wants to trade as 'Tiger' exclusively.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Have a long history withe term Tiger too.
A trademark used in one indstry has nothing to do with a trademark used in another industry; this is how Apple Computers can call itself "Apple", much to the displeasure of Apple Record Label. I highly doubt that a trademark infringment suit brougt by the Tiger-Cats against Tiger Direct will get anywhere. (How the former World Wrestling Foundation lost the rights to WWF stumps the shit out of me.) IMHO Apple is in the wrong on this.
The retailer has owned trademarks on Tiger, TigerDirect and TigerSoftware since 1996.
Last time we discussed this, the general conclusion is that TigerDirect had *registered* trademarks on all of these *except* "Tiger". Apple, OTOH, has a registered trademark on the term "Tiger". Has anyone tracked down this mysterious registration, or is TigerDirect merely claiming that their use of the mark precedes Apple's? (As I understand it, trademarks are not required to be registered. However, it can be very difficult to prove the usage of a common mark without it.)
Honestly, I think TigerDirect is entitled to nothing more than "TigerDirect" and its derivitives. I have never seen them referred to as simply "Tiger", and I find nothing confusing about a product name vs. a company name. IMHO, TD has a long road ahead of them if they want to prove that Apple is misusing their mark. And what does TD really think they're going to get out of it anyway? The cost of the suit will drain their company dry before they ever see even a meger return. Perhaps they think Apple will settle?
TigerDirect's contention is that Apple's use of the word "tiger" has knocked the retailer from the top of search results on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
What a bunch of poppycock. If you do a search for "Tiger Direct" or "Tiger Computers" on Google, you get Tiger Direct. Even if you search for "Tiger", you still get Tiger Direct before Apple. But just because they happen to come up on a search for "Tiger" does not give them the right to claim the use of that mark.
Mr. Young is also currently CEO of Lulu.com, which provides independent publishers with free access to on-demand publishing tools for books, e-books, music, images and calendars.
Watch out for that website. It's a real Lulu! (insert groaning here)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
A free license, that's good of them. Glad to see they're not a bunch profiteering jerks like a certain Online Computer Retail store.
Trademarking of common words is just... stupid.
You can't have these kind of issues with a made-up name like Coca-Cola, right?
Apple, Tiger, Windows, whats next? Imagination isn't a prerequisite anymore in marketing, it seems.
Eureka Science News - automatically updated
I thought the big deal was that they were both using the "Tiger" trademark, and TigerDirect had first dibs. What does a CFL team (go Argos!) have to do with a computing industry trademark?
change the name to Liger!
"Mind over matter: If you don't mind, then it doesn't matter"
-1, Redundant.
All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
I want an exclusive trademark on the word "the". Sounds like a good name for my company. Any other company that tries to use that name will have to pay me money :-P
--LWM
Nothing more.
While Tiger Direct has a (if somewhat sleazy) case, there's little confusion between a football team and computer sw. This is just Red Hat attempting to cash in on the PR surrounding this while looking like a good guy.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
With Apples Trend, couldn't they relabel it "iTiger"?
tiger direct is in the software sales business, apple engages in software sales business. the baseball team is not in the software sales business.
...
other examples of non-competing industries using similar trademarks are: united arlines, united postal service,
Wouldnt you think that they would have a say in this?
"Holy rusted metal, Batman!"
Trademark is generally only relevant for trade done in a specific domain - so usage of Tiger for a football franchise won't disallow another company to use football as a software reseller.
Where Apple potentially gets in trouble is that there is a company that is a software reseller that is doing business under the trademark of Tiger. Whether Apples line of business and Tiger Direct are closely enough related that the courts would disallow Apples usage of the trademark is unclear.
LetterRip
I suppose this means that any city zoo should rename all of their tigers to "The Cats Formerly Known As Tigers"
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
Nice move, but it is moot.
Now for my opinion. I think it is all BS. Apple is clearly not trying to take anything away from TigerDirect (who btw, has pretty damn good prices, and if you call them, often you can wiggle the price down more if you tell them you are a small buisness, get an account executive, not the sales data entry guy).
But TigerDirect must defend itself. If Apple wins, then what it will become a generic term, worthless. What if the next big thing is the Tiger Hard Drive, or Tiger DVD burner, or Tiger RAM? Then one day, maybe I'll open up TigerDiscount and sell all those Tiger products.
If Apple would have added more to the name like TigerMAC, then I think they would have a better chance.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
or do I have possibly some old catalogs that show TigerDirect once calling itself Tiger Software?
O.o
TD is smoking crack on this one though. NO ONE thinks of TigerDirect when the word Tiger is mentioned among Mac afficianados.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
"ARRRRGOOOOOOSS"
This is not just about the word "Tiger" but the use of that word with computers. I don't think that football team has much to do with computers. I bet there are a shit load of companies/products with the name "Tiger". This lawsuit has to do with the use of that word in the context of computers. And BTW, wasn't this lawsuit in USA? How can a Canadian company solve this by licensing the name?
if such companies are so eager to preserve a stupid trademark, why don't they do something to preserve their symbol: the tiger? He's in the brink of extinction, ya know?
I don't feel like it...
It's not like Apple's changing its name to Tiger. It's just a code name for the CURRENT REV of their OS. It's gonna last, what, 8 months? Then it'll be some other big cat.
BFD
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
Are we talking about golf?
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Now I can sue all you biatches.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
In fact, Apple got in trouble in the 70s when they first used the word and had to agree that Apple (computer company) would not get into the business of Apple ( music company). Of course, Apple (music company) cried foul recently over iTunes....
So, you can see cross-industry trademarks DO have to be negotiated.
Does anyone know what happened to the Fedora Vs Fedora Trademark Problem? http://www.fedora.info/redHat.shtml I think this topic was posted on /. way back in 2003
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/11/20/1722215.shtm l?tid=110&tid=187
I am really surprised to see much info on how
the issue got settled.
Last I heard Apple was still having trouble with the trademark of "Apple". Now what did they go and do?
I think your right. If the trademark isn't in the same catagory, it shouldn't help out Apple too much. It is kind of cool to see Red Hat offering the help anyway.
Tigers are boring. Now Ligers are pretty much my favorite animal...they're bred for their skills in magic.
Tech News, Reviews and Tutorials
And I will liscence to Bill G4t3s the term 'asshole'. If anyone owns the exclusive rights to the word with that much history and tradition, it's gotta be . I'll even liscence it to him free of charge.
"this is the gloaming"
radiohead
"This lawsuit is a load of codswallop," said Mr. Young.
Bonus points for the use of the word codswallop.
"Give me taste, give me funk, give me fury, gimme some more."
Oskee wee wee, Oskee Wah wah, holy Macanah Tiger cats, EAT EM RAW!
Imagine booting upo to that.
I'd be more interested to know what they'd have done if they were knocked out of top spot by Tiger Woods, claim that he don't have rights to his name? No. I think this is all a big publicity stunt to get the name TigerDirect into the news.
That's totally besides the point that if I type the word 'tiger' into a search engine, I'd expect to see information about tigers... you know, the big cats.
Trademark infringement suits hinge on the reasonable party standard. If a reasonable party looking at your use of the name "Tiger" might confuse it with my (trademarked) use of the name "Tiger" then it may indeed be a trademark violation.
Tiger Direct passes at least the smell test on the reasonable party standard.
The Tiger Atheletic Club (or whatever), however, has no reasonable party association either with Tiger Direct or with Apple's use of Tiger. So their ownership of the name is irrelevant.
The key point is you don't Trademark a *word* you trademark a specific contextual *use* of that word.
Thus Coca Cola can make sure you don't call your soft drink "coke" but they have no standing to object to you naming a software release "coke" as no reasonable person would confuse software with a carbonated beverage.
Why would anyone in the open source community want to help Apple? Apple is the enemy - not the BIG enemy, but a greedy little leech nonetheless.
Apple is abusing the hospitality of the OSS community and giving back little more than crap
in return.
Personally i hope TigerDirect sticks it to Apple with a wire brush.
"This lawsuit is a load of codswallop," said Mr. Young. "Nobody and no company should have the exclusive use of the word 'tiger.'"
A company should however have the exclusive use of, say, the word 'fedora'.
Frankly, even though Tiger has always struck me as a vaguely sleazy company, they do have something of a point.
Reminds me of when Tiger Woods tried to stop a golf course from using its name "Tiger's Eye", which it was named way before Tiger Woods became Tiger Woods. He obviously lost, but he did manage to get Nike to remove all of it's products from the Pro Shop!
PtPete
if use of the word 'tiger' is trademarked, one day everything will be named ac!12
What a crock! The context of the use of the word (trademark) is important. This team was using it football, outside of the U.S. Tiger Direct trademarked it as a term applying to Software. For a company like Apple who has alread run aground of trademake issues when they used a name that conflicts with Apple Records and started dealing in the music industry, you would think they would have know better to at least do a simple search before grabbing a name was that clearly registered with the Trademark office. I hope Tiger Direct wins big on this one.
Apples didn't invent the term "Apple". But they would agressively defend the use of the name or related names within the industry if others started using them. They should expect the same when they try to grab Tiger's registered property. Some hoser football team or even some cats in Asia don't change that.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Does Canadian Trademark law have standing in the United States? I'm not really sure? If not, what good can all of this do?
...no restaurant has a steak, or hamburger, or something called "The Longhorn." Sure is scary for a giant company to have a locally owned kind of place come after them for the trademark on a common word. Now imagine if Denny's had a steak called Longhorn, and then imagine what Denny's steaks taste like and stop thinking about it quick.
There is PR, and then there is totally awesome PR.
This is definitely the second.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
-Blade runner... get it?!
That would be sweet! It's pretty much my favorite animal...
-------------------------------------------
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
-- Dr. Seuss
i think tigers, yes the acutal animals need a public defender as well. their stance on the internet -- and google rankings for that matter is in danger, and their good name could be tarnished forever!
remember this guys?
http://www.nissan.com/
I thought the basis of trademarks only applied when you were in a situation where confusion could occur. Nobody is going to confuse some Canadian football team with some baseball team from Detroit or some Operation System for Apple computers or some on-line store.
I know TigerDirect is a computer store... however, I still fail to see how the name would cause customer confusion and as far as I know that is all that matters.
I have a feeling the RedHat guy probably offered to give them a license mostly out of spite for the moron lawyers at TigerDirect that brought this up as an issue in the first place.
Patent office records the first use of 'tiger':
"a caveman returned to his abode and found a tiger next to his wife and he screamed:
"Shoo Tiger!"
I happen to represent the umpteenth generation of a distant relative of that caveman.. so do I have a share to the booty by tigerdirect?[if it wins]
... is more and more looking like the borg.
--- Old Time NeXThead
No consumer is going to mistake Apple's Tiger OS for Tiger-Direct's discount (IBM-compatible) hardware. T-D's suit is a frivolous PR grab, much like this Ti-Cat offer. I hope Jobs gets his OS PR into lots more venues as a result of this ridiculous lawsuit, which actually will build the Apple brand in T-D's market - where they do compete, under "Macintosh" vs. "PC" brands.
--
make install -not war
"Your challenge was verbose. The preferred method is to scream and leap."
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Radioshack successfully stopped many companies trading at the multi-state level with the work shack in them. This may even still be the case, I haven't worked there in years.
Is a dirivitive of tiger but almost no one knows it these days what with the virtual(this means in essence, not in fact) censorchip of the printed form of a tale regarding the heroic antics of one small South Indian boy in dealing with one rather threatening, "I won't eat you, this time", tiger.
So put on your fancy new suit and call it Butter. You've even got a remaining few days of /. poll for exploitation.
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
How about "BMSWP" - Butthead Maker of Shitty WinTel PCs?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Oski Wee Wee
Oski Wa Wa
Holy Mackinaw
Tigers,
Eat Em' Raw
You mean Linspire, right?
Adam came up with the word tiger before any of you were born. Eve says it was her idea for the word apple.
Windows, Lindows, Tiger, liger?
Perhaps they are saving it when they have a product bloated enough to deserve naming it after the world's largest cat?
Yes. Liger is a real animal.
IT'S NOT RED HAT -- it's Bob Young. Young isn't in Red Hat management any more.
Geez... Why not just say "United States builds houses with Habitat for Humanity on Georgia," when you're talking about (former president) Jimmy Carter?
sick
This could be more problematic for Apple than the fuss with Apple records over Itunes. In that case the two Apples already had an agreement over the use of the name where Apple Computer, the junior party, pretty much said they would stay out of the music business. Outside of claiming a breach of that agreement, Apple Records probably would not have a strong trademark case against Itunes. Here it seems unbelievable that Apple was unaware of Tiger Direct and they could get hit very badly, as in injunction or creative damage theories if they lose. It seems like a lot of hubris to me and if they get nailed they deserve it. Of course if they don't get nailed they made a shrewd and calculated business decision or are very lucky.
Huh? When has Red Hat sued anyone over name "Fedora"? And AFAIK, It's "Fedora Red Hat", not plain old Fedora... not that RH really cares that much, it not being their actual cash cow (which would be RHEL).
Still no mention of Tiger Electronics (LCD games, Furby, etc...) being pulled into the lawsuit arena yet. They've been stealing the "tiger" name since at least as long as Apple has been around.
8==8 Bones 8==8
There are 73 trademarks with the term "Tiger" in them in the "software" category.
Tigerdirect's claim forTigerdirectwas filed on Nov 14 2001.
Apple's claim forTiger was filed on July 2, 2003.
While it is obvious that Apple could not license the name from a football team in order to help their case because they are not the same "Goods and Services" section, [IANAL] I don't think they could license the name from one of the other people in the software section either. The whole point of trademarks is to avoid confusion in the market, and Tigerdirect is claiming confusion with their trademark and apples, not some third party's trademark.
The Tyger
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright...
This takedown notice is to inform you that under the recently passed Copyright For Life And All Futures Lives Into Perpetuity Plus Entiching All Heirs With Lawyers Act, you are in violation of the copyright of one William Blake.
Furthermore, the very use of the word "Immortal" should have clued you in that he was obviously speaking of his copyright, since Tygers obviously die.
Lastly, prior art of "Tyger" has nothing to do with "Tiger".
Prepare to hand over to our Goon Squad[tm] $58 Billion dollars in lost royalities -- or $3000 if you don't force us to defend our ridiculous claims of losses in court.
And never forget: The Government of the People, by the People, and for The People is also a copyrighted phrase.
Have a nice day! (also copyrighted!)
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Also, Louisiana State University was founded in 1860. Though the Tiger was not named the official mascot until 1896. However, the namesake of the mascot was a Confederate brigade called The Fighting Tigers of Louisiana.
Liger on Public Display in Siberian Zoo
Random is the New Order.
I think everyone is missing the point here. Apple's software is not called "Tiger." Tiger is the CODE-NAME for a specific revision of the software. The software is *still* called MacOS X. To be specific, it's MacOS X.4 (10.4?). In Linux distro parlance, we'd refer to it as MacOS X (Tiger).
Thus, while I agree with Apple's fair use of the word, I don't see how they can bitch if they're asked to remove it. Similarly, I don't see how TigerDirect can really bitch since the *official* name of the product is NOT Tiger, it's MacOS X.
[move
Perhaps the ironic point of the Tiger-Cats team's offer is that a football team owned by a FLOSS operating-systems [mb]illionaire is just as much in the same business as a designer operating system, no more no less, tha a retailer of hardware systems and vanilla operating systems. Any court with a broad enough reading of Trademarks to consider granting relief to Tiger-Direct (TD) here would have to consider the Tiger-Cats (TC) license to Tiger-Apple (TA) as plausible. Which is just funny.
The above referenced USPTO webservice reports
The hopless litigant's TITLE tag says
The top level menu doesn't even list Operating Systems, it's a sub-option under Software, so OS are at best second tier "related product". They currently list 44 varieties of Windows and one SUSE, which is only available as a preload for certain systems. TigerDirect doesn't trade in the Mac market (product search finds Mach, Macro, CA PC Maclan, Macro Systems, Macromedia).IANAL but that Claim sure looks like they're claiming the Mark in the Mailorder and reatail business they're in (trading in computers etc), not in Computers etc. Since Tiger OS is only usable on PPC Macs, and Mac users wouldn't shop at a Wintel only outlet like TigerDirect, what's the possibility for brand confusion again?
If Apple opened "Tiger Express" stores adjacent to their AppleDirect stores in the malls, that would be a direct conflict with the claim (IANAL).
IANAL but I did a bit of Pre-Law ... so I'm anxiously waiting to see what PJ has to say on this one.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
Here is the solution: All of the Apple users...and now that RedHat is on board, Linux users just stop ordering hardware from TigerDirect. We can NewEgg it from now on. Lets see how long Tiger Direct lasts relying on just the Lindows...sorry, Windows (Lindows is something completely differet, confused them there for a second) users. If the company ceases to exist, its hard to say that users are confused by the brands.
Wonder how Steve Job's ego will take this....
This guy is way out there
I want exclusive use of the word "codswallop!"
Viv
Gmail invites for ip
Tigers
I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life
My alma mater, Princeton University, was founded in 1746. We have been known as "the tigers" since before 1900, but the exact year that the mascot began is uncertain.
9 /14-0421/0421feat.html
http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_old/PAW98-9
The thing with Apple computer was that if they wanted to they could've gone into the business of computer hardware for music purposes and then they would've been trampling on Apple's (music company) turf somewhat. I really don't know how they've gotten away with QuickTime, iTunes and the iPod though.
This is a bit offtopic, but I'd advise everyone to avoid doing business with TigerDirect. I ordered the parts for my current computer from them and a great number of them didn't work properly. Worse, most of the warranties are "in-kind;" i.e. "Your RAM doesn't work? That's okay, send it back and we'll send you more RAM that doesn't work."
I also had to go out and buy a USB mouse because if I plug in devices in both PS/2 ports the computer won't boot properly, and the SATA hard drive I bought from them worked for all of two days before breaking.
None of these are compatibility issues, by the way; I replaced the defective Tiger parts with the same brand parts from a reputable local store (where they were more expensive) and the computer worked. The reason Tiger's prices are so low is that they sell factory seconds, meaning parts which didn't pass the company's quality inspection, so most of the stuff you buy from TigerDirect is non-functioning.
I used to read Caltizzle. I was a lot cooler than you.
As noted above, there is also a trademark on the word "Tiger" by the parent company filed on January 27 200.
A company should however have the exclusive use of, say, the word 'fedora'.
I think a more appropriate common household word that would be ridiculous to trademark is the word 'apple'.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
Tiger Toys has made several learning computers. What about them?
You are absolutely right; a football team vs. computer software?
But, redhat now looks like its run by classy pros (as opposed to TigerDirect which look like sue-happy theives) in the tech-news circle, and it gets its name out for FREE.
Great idea, redhat!!!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
In the current case, this would be seen as a transparent ploy, and the case would be back to where it was before this "licensing deal" was signed.
However, if it were done in advance, as part of a bona fide promotional tie-in with the team, it would've worked.
Tiger Direct cannot interfere with Apple engaging in promotional tie-ins with sports teams that happen to have the name "Tiger" in them.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
anyone else experience that the majority of the banner ads attached to this story are for TigerDirect.com?
[move
Then Tiger Woods can countersue everybody, and the Cincinatti Bengals can sue because Tigers have stripes and that infringes on their uniform patent. Get over it!!!!
Steve should go to Esso and put a Tiger in his tank, then head over to the convenience store and get a box of Kellogs cornflakes, then take them all to court...
Oh well, what the hell...
If tigerdirect is an Apple retailer, isn't there a clause within their contract saying that says they can't sue Apple for stuff like this? If they don't have a contract, couldn't Apple sue them in return for being an "unauthorized" vendor of Apple products, or using the Apple/Macintosh/iPod name?
TigerDirect, an on-line retailer of computer parts and accessories
When I was browsing the article I thought it said "TigerDirect, a one-time retailer of computer parts and accessories." oh well.
bar
If anyone owns the exclusive rights to the word tiger...
That string of words is fubar. I understand the words, but they are absurd.
Sure it is great that Apple is getting bailed out by a Linux comrade (or is it? Apple is not exactly an impoverished "runt" company) but keep in mind that the whole concept of owning a word is absurd
Fire away, but once again I am slapped with concepts that confound my understanding of their inception. That sounds lame...why does anyone put up with crap ideas like this?
|plastic....or gasoline?|
I would imagine that Apple Records (if the entity still exists) trademark of the apple isn't so strong that it would cross over to music retailing.
Given that it now takes a few minutes and a google search to remember why Apple Records was important for most people (especially younger people) it might not be even labeled an active trademark, espically in the US.
They didn't. Apple (Music) complained.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
Completely unnecessary. Apple should definitely not go this way, and I'm sure they won't, because they clearly do not need anybody's permission to continue their demonstrated trend of using animals from the cat family to name major releases of OS X.
RP
"OS X" infringes his distinctive name, causing confusion among mutants worldwide!
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
and that's probably why it's called "iTunes Music Store" not "Apple Music Store".
...Is that Tiger-Direct had to be such an ass and wait until right before the release of OSX Tiger to sue. The name Tiger has been known for ages! I wouldn't by any means like it any better if they had sued right away but this is a loser tactic.
I am Spartacus
Is currently in opposition. Presumably Tiger Direct is the one opposing it. Apple got lucky in obtaining the mark because it was able to distinguish the other Tiger software marks as being for industrial uses. They will have a harder time with the opposition.
My guess is that they will settle before the outcome of the opposition is determined. A finding that there is a likelihood of confusion from the trademark office would seriously hurt Apple's case and give Tiger leverage to demand a higher payout.
A happy ending to the StUpId WoRlD OF LaWsUiTs
What does a CFL team (go Argos!) have to do with a computing industry trademark?
Whoever submitted this obviously is not a lwayer, because the answer to your question is absolutely nothing.
Let's say I want to register the trademark Foo. First, I have to use, or plan to use within one year, the trademark in INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
Next, I have to decide whether I'm going to trademark the WORD Foo, or just a presentation of the word Foo. For example, let's say I'm the University of Illinois. I want trademark protection for my athletic program. But I can't just trademark "Illinois" - trademarking a geographical name is expressly prohibited. But I *CAN* trademark the word "Illinois" written in a certain shape/font/color. Trademarking a particular presentation of a word is much easier to do and much easier to defend, but also lets other people use that same word with a different presentation as long as it's not confusing (a matter decided in court). for exampl,e nobody can stop you from having a sports team and calling it the Tigers. Tigers is not a trademark. But you can't have a sports team, call it the Tigers, and then use the logo of the Detroit Tigers, because while the NAME Tigers isn't trademarked, the way the Detroit Tigers write Tigers is.
Lastly, and most importantly here, you have to decide IN WHAT PRODUCT SPACE you are registering your trademark. You can't just trademark something for all products everywhere. You have to get a separate trademark for each product space, and actually have products using that mark in that space.
For example, there is Discover the credit card and Discover the TV station. Both are trademarked. How can this be? The reason is that Discover the TV station's trademark is only good within the TV space, and Discover the credit card's trademark is only good within the credit card space.
Point of the matter is, a trademark on a sports team named the tigers isn't even going to give you trademark rights against other sports teams, much less against computer companies.
paintball
It wasn't funny the first time, and it sure isn't the 10000000015th time someone refrences that retarded movie.
A number of people have pointed out that Tiger-Cats and OS X Tiger are in different industries and therefore not comparable. But didn't the Pilot pen company get the Pilot PDA's name changed to PalmPilot and eventually simply Palm?
Probably due to Tiger Direct, the Apple Tiger mark is in opposition. That means that it may be revoked which would leave Apple in a very bad position.
Also trademark suits aren't that expensive to a company Tiger Direct's size. And Apple will probably settle. Its potential exposure is much too high to risk an injunction, even though having to change the name to MacOS X Liger would send their cool factor skyrocketing.
The was because Jobs and Wozniak were big Beatles fans and they loved Apple Records for it. They had gone to talk to Apple Records if they would let them use their name for their computer company and they explicity stated they Apple computers would not go into the music industry.
Cross-Industry trademarks don't have to negotiate. They only need to negotiate when they cross over into each others market, just like what Apple Computer is doing by entering the iTunes and audio speaker industry.
If the Tiger software was a software made specifically for football usage, then it might have encounter problems with the Tiger-Cats, but till then, Tiger OS and Tiger-Cats won't have any type of conflict.
HD Trailers
The point seems pretty clear. This lawsuit is lame.
Ya know everytime I say we're trying to change the world of IP around here he corrects me and makes me utter the mantra of making the world a better place. So in light of Bob constantly trying to keep the rightous prize in sight, I say shove off ya hosers, Id prefer to avoid beating up on the good guys that are all aboot protecting against corporate giants doing stupid things.
Oh yeah and he is CEO of www.lulu.com not Red Hat, eh?
Microsoft is suing Anderson Windows for trademark infringement of the Windows name. And considering suing all other manufacturers of windows that use the trademarked word Windows in their name or company literature
Anderson is contemplating a name change to Anderson transparent apertures in hopes it will appease the monopolist and thus deftly avoid a legal smiting
Your argument does not follow. From the premises "Apple got in trouble in the 70's when they first used the word and had to agree that that Apple (computer company) would not get into the business of Apple (music company)", and "Of course, Apple (music company) cried foul recently over iTunes", the correct conclusion is not that "Cross-industry trademarks do have to be negotiated", because the dispute you're referring to took place not between uncontroversially and unambiguously different industries, but over the question of whether it was a conflict within the same industry.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Spike Lee versus SpikeTV.
I guess corporations feel like they're not taking enough away from us as it is, so they might as well own the words we use too.
If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
Tm
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
The American dime used to have a lady liberty with a winged head, dubbed the mercury dime. It was supposed to represent America's freedom of thought. The dime was discontinued a long time ago. There is nothing free any longer in this country and gosh darnit that's the new American way. Go USA . Watch more TV and shop at WalMart
Add me to the list of people that will:
* Never shop there
* Tell my friends to never shop there
* Email them and let them know why
I'm sick of hearing about ridiculous lawsuits like this.
In a Futurama episode, they are trying to name a new snack food product and the only two trademarks left are "Popplers" and "Tasticles". they decide not to use "Tasticles" because it sounded too much like "Taste-cicles" ...
Anyway, it does show that trademarks need to be created with some attempt to be unique as all the common words can get used up, especially in the age where internet expands the reach of sales channel.
Because this is absurd, Tiger is a common word...Maybe the Indian subcontinent should file lawsuit against Tiger Direct.
How can a common word in use be allowed to be controlled like this though?
The original dispute arose, iirc, when Apple added sound capabilities to their computers. Apple (music) contested that they could then be used to create music, and so Apple (computers) were infringing on their trademark. Apple (computers) agreed not to enter the music business, hence the more recent upset about iTunes, etc.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
You'd think Apple execs would be MUCH more afraid of the retribution of the Tamil Tigers.
/ducks
-- often wrong; never in doubt
The problem here is Tiger is a fairly commen word.
:)
Like Apple or Windows
If anyone has made the word Tiger a recognizable household name, it's gotta be Tiger Woods (not to mention the friggin' species).
Why do people have to sue over every god damn thing?
-- This sig for rent.
It's a trap!!! -Admiral Ackbar
TW
Television is dead. Long live That Weasel Television
My O'Reilly Java in a Nutshell book has a tiger on it and it has ... uh ... something to do with computers. O'Reilly better look out because Tiger-Direct (AKA the new SCO) is coming after you!
...you insensitive clod!
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Oskee-wee-wee! Oskee-wa-wa!
Think Different.
This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it. - Dorothy Parker
Say, by about over a 100,000 years or more?
,(TM) and the question mark! (?) (TM).
How can people claim rights to common words.
I Have patented, copyrighted, and trademarked 'The' and 'a' and 'and', as well as the comma
Next up at bat I will own the rights to (TM), (C), and (R), so all you corporations better pay up now!
All your base belong to US.
If apple would be so kind as to send me, gratis, a dual G5 2.7 I'm sure I could help them find a way out of the legal troubles tiger direct has caused and even put tiger direct out of business in the process. When I'm done with them they will have to change their name to big pussies direct.
One point there: Apple Records basically sold out a few years back. The remaining Beatles do not own it. Every time you hear Paul McCartney's "Yesterday" on the radio. rememebr: the curent owner: Michael Jackson, gest the ASCAP royalty.... You perhaps wondered about the money?
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
Let's see:
Tiger's Eye the golf course opened in 2000, at the zenith of Woods' first great run. So it wasn't there 'way before Tiger Woods became Tiger Woods'.
Also, a fairly thorough Google search of "Tiger Woods" with "Tiger's Eye" alone or along with "lawsuit", "dispute", "pro shop", "Nike", etc., turns up nothing. In contrast, Woods' dispute with an artist, a yacht company, and an advertising company all jump right out.
So, unless you can provide a link, I call bullshit.
So there is no way they are going to drop it. Win, and they get to keep the name. Lose, and they get to change the name that has been used for almost 20 years.
No, it's not "Fedora Red Hat". They are very careful to refer to the "Fedora project" and "Fedora Linux" but you won't see "Fedora Red Hat" around (at least not from the official project). The closet the website gets is "The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project."
1. Buy a CFL franchise in Rustbucket, Ont.
2. Upgrade the facilities (a better big screen, sweep up trash)
3. Install Apache/Fedora on ticats.ca (Netcraft)
4. Try and figure out how to drive more hits to ticats.ca
5. Get involved in stupid fight but which involves Linux (RH, his ex-company) AND Apple.
6. Slashdot-profit!!!!
Funny you should mention Princeton. Up until Princeton redesigned their tiger logo recently, they were actually using the logo of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as their own. So they were directly in copyright violation themselves! The logo was created by the Hamilton football club's General Manager in the late 1950s. Here it is on the Tiger-Cats website, labelled "vintage".
Look familiar to you?
http://www.ticats.ca/index.php?module=ContentExpre ss&func=display&ceid=114
Then Apple can license the Jyushin Lygar theme song -Hey Apple, I have it on CD; call me. $$$
Anyways, Lygar has an attack called LygarSlash so it's only a small jump to LygarSlashdot.
Sig for hire.
Taking the initiative I want to google bomb Tiger direct by linking it to the name Butthead Vendor to Tiger Direct.
ANd here I'm linking Apple to Tiger and to Tiger Direct.
I urge you to join me in adding links. Put these in your sig for the next month so they are all over slashdot!
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
What rights? Who has any right to a so common word like Tiger? Nobody should have any right over a word used to name an animal.
This trademarks and right hell should STOP NOW! For God's sake! This is insane! I can't believe how stupid can people and companies become for a common use world. Stop this now!!!
Talk about coming out of left field
sorry.. I couldn't resist
And of course anytime the Beatles and Apple Records come up in conversation, it seems somebody has to point out that Michael Jackson gets all the money whenever a Beatles song is played. Time to get up to speed on current events kiddies...
Michael Jackson owns a 50% share of the company that owns the publishing rights to the Beatles catalog. While it is true that he once owned 100% of the publishing rights, he transferred those rights to another company that was formed in a joint venture with Sony.
Furthermore, owning the publishing rights entitles him to half of the royalties from the publishing rights whenever somebody licenses a Beatles song for performance or whatever. The other half goes to the songwriters, McCartney and Lennon's estate.
I'm sure wasting 10 seconds of your oh so precious life googling "Michael Jackson Beatles" or something like that could have found this and much more.
fuck you.
So if anyone would prevail, it would be the Census Bureau, after all they are part of the US Department of Commerce and Commerce runs/owns the Patent and Trademark office. Maybe we should get Census to beat up Tiger direct?
Who said anything about having sued anyone? And the trademark is on "Fedora", not "Fedora Red Hat". They don't use "Fedora Red Hat" anywhere.
In the future, you might consider actually fact-checking before responding. It's easy enough to go to fedora.redhat.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page and read: "Fedora is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc". Likewise, it's only slightly more difficult to click on "Trademark Guidelines" and discover that Red Hat does, in fact, have specific guidelines they expect you to follow in order to use their trademarks.
They do have a history of protecting their marks, as well. Earliest case I can recall was their warning to Cheap Bytes which resulted in "Pink Tie" linux, and more recently those to CentOS.
About OSX 10.1 Puma?
What about the makers of Sex Panther?
Try this for a Tiger :
/ Corp_A_H_Tiger.asp/
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/About/History
What about Siegfried & Roy. I'm sure they'd have something to say about the Tiger trademark.
"Mac OS-X Panthera Tigris Tigris" (Bengal Tiger)
"Mac OS-X Panthera Tigris Altaica" (Siberian Tiger)
"Mac OS-X Panthera Tigris Corbetti" (Indochinese Tiger)
"Mac OS-X Panthera Tigris Amoyensis" (South China Tiger)
"Mac OS-X Panthera Tigris Sumatrae" (Sumatran Tiger)
None of these have the explicit panache of "Mac OS-X Tiger", but they would serve as a reminder of the stupidity of this whole episode... right Carl ?
This msg is brought to you by the letter 'W'.. for Worthless Wuss
No, and no. Four questions left.
But I've only asked five questions so far!
Is this a business plot? Is it a ploy to make some quick cash? Those are separate questions.
Does Apple Records actually distribute music anymore? Or does the company still exist just to sue Apple? I've never seen a CD with the Apple label on it. If they aren't actually releasing music, then they should have no claim against Apple anymore. Aren't you supposed to actually use your trademarks for them to be valid?
... and then they built the supercollider.
I don't know about you, but a quick search on google for the word "tiger" reveals that tigerdirect shows up above apple's site. Why are they suing again? They should go after 5tigers.org instead. There page shows up a whole 80 pixels above tigerdirect. This is such an outrage, us humans cannot let this happen!!
It's pretty sad when you have to license a goddamn tiger name to somebody when a company is bitching about search results. I think there is enough prior art running around africa and south america is enough to call this complaint off.
...::----::...
I am in no way affiliated with this sig.
An you American's said are football was pointless.
I'm sure the exec at Tiger Direct can and do, all the way to the statisitics site
This reminds me of the famous McDonalds name incident from some years back, where McDonalds tried to force a restaurant named McMunchies to change it's name. That's when Lord MacDonald of the Clan Donald got into the act. Quoting from a press release at http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/clandonald_ jan97.html:
Lord Macdonald of Macdonald, premier clan chief of Clan Donald, has appointed Ronald W McDonald to be Sergeant-Major at Arms of the Guardians of Clan Donald: the linear descendant of the chief's bodyguard. It will be open to all Macdonalds and their septs, dependents, and descendants, who are in good standing in the community. Successful applicants will be enlisted as Sergeants at Arms and issued with a Warrant in the form of a Certificate which is suitable for framing. The cost of membership is £1 (postal orders please) or £2 sterling for overseas applicants.
Needless to say, history was on their side even more than it was with the Tiger name here. If you don't use an original name, don't expect to be protected like an original name.
I thought that Exxon had the US Tiger trademark. Their gasoline ads go back long before Al Gore invented the internet and Tiger Direct's existance. I bought a Tiger Travler soda mug with the Exxon logo back in the early 1990s.
But then there's Tony the Tiger appearing on the boxes of Kelloggs Sugar Frosted Flakes. Tony the Tiger was around in the 1950's.
Perhaps Tiger Direct is the infringer and not Apple. This is clearly a case of "prior art".
It was not until they started selling music through iTMS that problems arose. The reason why they were able to get into QuickTime, iTunes and iPod is because they were not selling music, which is what Apple Records does. Incidentally, Apple Computer holds the trademark on "Apple Computer" and the logo, NOT on the word "Apple", it's increasingly frustrating to see people's lack of knowledge on what businesses actually have trademarked.
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
Isn't that Sun's codeword for their new version of Java?
so why isn't Tiger Direct suing them too. Oh I know why, they know they would lose easier.
if you want to email the lawyer responsible for filing the suit against apple, here is the email address (listed at the end of the 16 page subpoena): beeerraj@gtlaw.com
Do u mean something like this :)
I've known quite a few people, including myself who have made purchases with TD, the only complaint I've ever heard is problems with rebates.
I am a member of the general public and I don't feel confused at all, I am confident I can differentiate between Tiger-the-OS and Tiger-the-parts-shop.
Who are we condemning on this one? I'm lost...
http://www.tigers.co.uk/
Am I missing something here, they only sue people with lots of money??
But the one I'm really waiting for is 10.6.6.6 - Pussy.
Hehe - that'll get some converts.
R.
It doesn't matter if he offers the name to Apple. The name tiger is held in Canada, not the US. Ford Motor can not use the name Mustang in Germany because its associated to Yo-Yo.
Nice gesture, unless this is a way to get some free PR for RH and/or Sports Team.
O'Well....
this link to tiger direct is solely a result of tiger direct's lawsuit against apple computers and has nothing to do with any product with the name tiger. therefore any trademark confusion as a result of this link could have been prevented by tiger direct not filing suit and as such apple is not to blame.
Tiger is a generic word, anyone should be able to use them. Plus tigerdirect are most probably going for more publicity. TigerDirect have been known for doing anything they can do to make them profit. Review on them in the past have been bad too.
"I really don't know how they've gotten away with QuickTime, iTunes and the iPod though."
I think not having The Beatles available on the iTunes music store could be classed as not getting away with it!
There was a case in the UK where Locomotive Software wanted to trademark their name (they make/made office productivity suites). It was thrown out as too generic as it would, for example, prevent companies who made software for locomotives from using the terms.
I live in Hamilton, Ontario. Ever since Mr. Young purchased the TiCats, he's been on the local news at least once a month causing shit and being an ass in general. I think he's one of those "I'm rich..now I'm bored." types like dude that owns Virgin records whose name escapes me at the moment.
iTunes Music Store _does_ sell music though...
Yes, they still distribute music. They don't distribute new music that often because The Beatles is not really a very productive band these days. Not too strange since they split up 35 years ago, and half the members are dead. Once in a while they do release something though, like the Beatles Antology albums and DVD's.
Tiger Direct is getting everything they need by just announcing their intent to sue. They can settle out of court for nothing 5 months from now, but they successfully got themselves into the headlines of every trade journal for a 100 dollar filing fee.
I have unique name of Tigga!
And those Apple and Tiger-Direct infringe on my name
with those silly tigers. It is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the general public.
Grrr!!!
I was certain that the tiger vs Linux debate had been settled. here: http://www.darkskiez.co.uk/gallery/Miscellaneous/T iger_vs_Linux
Your sig: "Bliar for President"
If by that you mean British PM Tony Blair, you've spelt his name wrong. If, however, you mean "B. Liar", the USA already has a President B. that's a liar.
If I cared about this, I'd be trademarking cat names as we speak. Anyone want to buy a copy of my new "Puma", "Lion" or "Leopard" Linux distros?
Training monkeys for world domination since 1439
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Tiger fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of Tiger on a dual 2.5 Ghz G5 with 2.5 GB of RAM for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Power Mac running OS 8.5, which by all standards should be a lot slower than the dual G5, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.
In addition, during this file transfer, Safari will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even iWork is straining to keep up as I type this.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on Tiger, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen Spotlight run faster than Sherlock, despite Tiger's modern kernel. My Fat Mac with 512K of ram runs faster than this dual G5 machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that Tiger is a superior OS.
Tiger addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Tiger over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
(For those of you who are new here, please see the original before you get your panties in a wad.)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I can install a football team onto my computer?
Indeed, that's EXACTLY why it's the iTunes Music Store.
That's also why the iPod is called iPod and not "Apple iPod".
If you note, there is no reference to the Apple brand on any of those products (other than the manufacturer logo on teh back of the iPod).
People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
this trademark stuff is assanine. "Tiger" is a word, plain and simple and as such it shouldn't be allowed to be used as a trademark anyway. Now if the team "Tigers" or TigerDirect were to also release an operating system and called it Tiger there'd be a problem, but as it stands there is no problem as there's clearly a difference between the three. Just as stupid as MSFT claiming "dows" and "Office" is a trademark those should never ever have been allowed as well. Make up a word of ones own instead. These are kind of lawyers that make the rest of them the butt of jokes and disdain.
A bengal Tiger has offered Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs a quick way out of a lawsuit by TigerDirect over the latest version of Tiger. According to the Globe and Mail, the Tiger has offered to license the historical use of the word Tiger to Apple free of charge.
All he asks for is a meeting with the board members of TigerDirect... in a closed and noise reduced environment... door's shut...
It's THE Total Home Entertainment, a cd/ book etc distribution co.
Am I the only one wanting a large feline to wander in midway through the court case to show who really has prior usage of the name?
Don't take the above poster too seriously. He doesn't.
Su Sai Babu writing from an alter-ego.
I found the Bannerman books using google. I remembered the author from back when out children were small. Daughter will be a senior studying architecture at a school in Paris next year. Son is in Georgia and will be a junior studying applied mathematics at Georga Tech next year. Time passes too quickly.
Are you in India? I shared a house in Fiji with a lady from Delhi for a number of years. She had a Scottish accent having attended parochial school taught by nuns from Scotland. I live in Honolulu now but have been spending a lot of time in Georgia trying to sell some property we have in Atlanta and keeping an eye on the children.
Otherwise, US trademarks would have no standing in Canada...
BlackNova Traders
From the article:
...
"This lawsuit is a load of codswallop," said Mr. Young. "Nobody and no company should have the exclusive use of the word 'tiger.'"
I think Apple should rename tiger CODSWALLOP!
TigerDirect knows best on suing. They made lots of money selling shoddy parts and systems back in the late 90s with virtually no customer service. FTC and the State of Florida hammered them with extensive fines and a chance to shape up their client ethics.
All in all this could just be a publicity stunt for free advertisement.
It seems to me that thier use does not diminish the existing projects in any way, and does not violate any licenses or agreements. It seems like the big objection (mostly places like /.) really stems from apple making money off OSS and not "converting" to the OSS religion.
I think this could eventually lead to a problem if companies see that the OSS community takes an all or nothing approach to relations with commercial software compaines. The case of apple shows what is possible when both "sides", OOS and non-OSS, combine without trying to wage cultural war. But if the community expects everyone who uses OSS code to convert to the cause, it will go back to the hobbiests vs the compaines again.Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
About the only thing I really buy from TigerDirect is computer cases. In general, I haven't had many problems with them. But, then again, the last one I bought from them I wasn't really pleased with as the color was seriously off from what it should have been. Sorta pea green/yellow instead of a bright lightning yellow. Needless to say, I kept the case instead of going through the hassles of sending it back. /shrug
I have friends up and down the east coast of the U.S. who have also had problems when ordering components from TigerDirect so your issues are pretty widespread.
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
Basically, the argument is that Apple is using the name "Tiger" to promote not just its OS, but also other products, such as iPods, which is in direct competition with TigerDirect. There is some merit to this, and it's not as frivilous as people are suggesting.
Tiger's best argument may be for "initial interest confusion". It's a growing area of trademark law that works, for example, against one who registers a slightly misspelled domain name, (e.g., amzon.com) in order to glean unsuspecting customers headed for the correct domain.
Here's how it could have to work here: Joe User wants to buy an iPod from TigerDirect. He goes to Google and types in "Tiger" to get TigerDirect's web page. But instead, he sees Apple come up, and winds up buying his iPod from Apple. A bit far-fetched (which is why I think TD loses - it's just not likely consumers would be confused or misled in this way), but it works logically.
Actually, checking out the court records shows that Tiger is somewhat active on the litigation front. In one particular case, they sued WhenU.com for placing pop-up / pop-under ads on the TigerDirect web page. The problem was that the ads were for direct compeitors such as OfficeMax. The case wound up settling, though I don't know any terms.
That case and this one have some similarities, and some important differences. There, there was a clear case of confusing customers and directly using the Tiger mark to whenU's advantage. Here, it's not so clear on confusion, and the "initial interest confusion" argument is pretty weak IMHO (who would go to Google to find TigerDirect's website?).
Yet I've been seeing lots of pseudo-ads for the iPod on sports broadcasts where they'll say "Brought to you by the iPod from Apple, featuring the fabulous Apple clickwheel." Crazy shit.
Ordinarily, estoppel refers to the process of affirmatively taking one position (for one purpose), and then another (for a second purpose). The law forces you to stick with your initial position, estopping you from taking a contrary view. There are other meanings as well (collateral estoppel, licensee estoppel, prosecution history estoppel), but none close to the notion you propose here.
On the other hand, the notion that rights can expire by sitting on them for too long has an equitable name (laches), although it usually requires decades of forebearance. Another, where your forebearance amounted to conduct upon which you can reasonably rely, is named acquiescence.
Apple's best defense, however, is probably noninfringement. Laches and acquiescence are tough rows to hoe, and don't always avoid an injunction going forward.
The delay here, a year of forebearance, is probably not a defense to a valid claim of infringement, but almost certainly is enough to avoid a preliminary injunction, which is the only meaningful relief Tiger might be seeking.
Wow, my poor little post-industrial home town in the shadow of Toronto got on Slashdot!
_nfotxn
Unfortunately no, Apple Corps ("Apple Records") is still a nice litigious company.
Their first lawsuit came about over Apple Computer calling itself Apple Computer. Because, y'know, Apple Corps owns the word Apple. Settled out of court because Apple wasn't too far removed from Steve & Steve's garage in 1981.
Second lawsuit was over the Apple IIgs. It (gasp!) included an audio chipset on the motherboard, which clearly was infringing on Apple Corps ability to publish the Beatles back catalog. Uh. Hmm. Settled out of court in 1986 because Apple was still a small company, and the Beatles were still selling records like hotcakes (hotcakes having been invented the previous winter).
Lawsuit #3 came with the introduction of QuickTime, alleging a violation of the agreement from lawsuit #1. Not only were they playing music through motherboard chipsets, they had a system to create audio & video files and play them back. Again, clearly this could prevent Apple Corps from publishing the Beatles back catalog. Settled out of court in 1991.
The last lawsuit has come about because of the iPod & iTune Music Store. Now, given that Apple Corps is living in a technological backwater and refusing to allow anyone to sell digital copies of their songs, perhaps the latter part has some merit when it comes to them being unable to publish the Beatles backcatalog the way they've always done it. The question is why the hell should the world coddle Luddites?
If you build a house on the freeway, should the state have to pay to rebuild your house when a Mack truck plows through your bedroom at 2am?
I assume you assumed when I wrote "Apple does have legal issues with Appl" (sorry for truncation) that the first Apple I mentioned where the computer people. Can see why that was warranted....
Don't they realise that there are 1770 trademarks containing the word tiger, and probably a lot more buisnesses as well. (Source: URL:http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&sta te=97eago.1.1&p_search=searchss&p_L=50&BackReferen ce=&p_plural=yes&p_s_PARA1=&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA1% 24LD&expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=tiger&p_tagrep l%7E%3A=PARA2%24COMB&p_op_ALL=AND&a_default=search &a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query)