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Apple Loses Aussie Trademark Complaint Over "i" Name

Posted by timothy on from the but-maybe-only-at-the-end dept.

CuteSteveJobs writes "Apple has been dealt a severe blow having been told that it no longer has a monopoly on the letter 'i' for product naming. IP Australia, the government body that oversees trademark applications, rejected Apple's complaint against a company selling 'DOPi' laptop bags. Last year Australian computer company Macpro Computers claimed that after 26 years of flying its own Macpro brand that Apple was 'trying to burn us out' with legal fees. This was after Apple released its own Macpro line 3½ years ago. Apple lost that complaint, but is appealing. Last year Apple went after supermarket Woolworths complaining their new logo which featured a 'W' fashioned into the shape of an apple. (Woolworths sells real apples.)"

17 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. iFirst by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This post has been taken to court by Apple due to violations regarding the iFirst.

    1. Re:iFirst by sopssa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's weird Apple even cries over such, especially when other companies have been using similar names for years. Adding an i before a word in name, what an invention. iPad has the same story too, and then Apple just came along and took it. There's even a hand-held device Fujitsu iPAD from 2002.

      Apple doesn't care about other peoples names but then cries over some company that has been using Macpro name for over 25 years before Apple. Just like they didn't care about Nokia's patents but instantly cries when someone even considers anything close to Apple's patents. If Apple were a person he would be a total douche, but of course we again see some Apple fanboys coming to defend this douchebag.

    2. Re:iFirst by value_added · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If Apple were a person he would be a total douche, but of course we again see some Apple fanboys coming to defend this douchebag.

      What I didn't know and was surprised to learn was the following:

      Apple [has a] market capitalisation of close to $US200 billion, making it the fourth largest publicly traded American company

      If Apple's a douchebag, then it's a Really Big Douchebag. On the other hand, with only a handful of consumer products from which they seem to make most of their money, it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that they'd be so aggressive at protecting their names and associations in the mind of consumers. Or from a pure business sense, faulted for doing so.

      Good business sense or not, I'd agree they qualify as a douchebag. But then, so do the Beatles (for some, purveyors of simililary overrated products) for suing Apple way back when.

    3. Re:iFirst by Jazz-Masta · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Apple were a person he would be a total douche

      He'd also be wearing a turtleneck, have a starbucks double half-calf-frappa-moccha-chino, goatee, and thick black-rimmed glasses.

      Oh yeah, and a liberal arts degree.

    4. Re:iFirst by daath93 · · Score: 5, Informative

      In what universe is apple the fourth largest publicly traded American company? The Forbes Global 2000 has them ranked at 113 (behind many many American companies) with about 4.86 billion in profits and a total market value of 79.54 billion. Even Microsoft is only ranked 49th with 3 times the profits and market value.

    5. Re:iFirst by hanabal · · Score: 5, Informative

      the beatles saga was another case of Apples douchiness actually. The Beatles record label was called apple records a subsidiary or Apple Corps, they had a trademark and everything. Along comes apple computers and they struck a deal, signed and everything, as long as apple computers stays out of the music game its all good. This is pretty much standard for trademarks, the idea is that if anyone hears the name apple associated with music they will think of The Beatles. for pretty much any trademark the rules are stay out of the same market and you can use the same name. All good so far. Then apple computers starts selling ipods and itunes, hey wait a sec they said they weren't going to do that. This is why the beatles sued, and rightfully so.

  2. Say what you want about Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...but if Apple was as big as Microsoft is now and had the same legal attitude, the legal climate in computing would look even far worse than it does now.

    1. Re:Say what you want about Microsoft... by PietjeJantje · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem with AAPL is, if Steve Jobs drops dead tomorrow, it will implode in catastrophic ways. But if a piano falls out of the sky and takes out Balmer, MSFT will go up.

  3. I think they lost it at the point where by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    They told the Australian court that the country would have to change its name to Australya.

  4. The first sign of trouble was... by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Funny

    when the ruling was headlined iDon'tThinkSo.

  5. Proof the Australian legal system is broken by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First AFACT (Australia's RIAA) lose and courts clearly state that ISP's are not responsible for policing their users now they have the audacity to claim Apple has no right to destroy other companies over vague allusions to product names or names they have been using for 20 years.

    Preposterous I say, this simply cannot stand, as an Australian I demand that our legal system be fixed so that innocent mega-corporations can no longer be inconvenienced by our clearly erroneous laws.

    --
    Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  6. Way to stick it to the man! by hellop2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple didn't invent the 'i' concept anyways. The 'i' comes from "Internet" because we called it the "iNet" back in the BBS days.

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  7. Trying to win trademark fights? by Mitchell314 · · Score: 5, Funny

    There's an app for that.

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    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  8. The world. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Powered by 26 letters, and therefore a maximum of 26 companies.

  9. Sci Fi to the Rescue...Again by hyades1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Frank Herbert, the author of "Dune" wrote a couple of novels set in a universe where lawyers who chose to fight a case literally had to fight it...and die if they lost. "Whipping Star" was one of them.

    I think he was onto something. I, for one, would pay big money to see lawyers die.

    --
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  10. Oh the irony by plusser · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When talking of trademarks, the Australian Woothworths company actually had absolutely nothing to do with the FW Woolworth company and its famous US and UK stores (and apparently stores in other countries that are still trading under the Woolworths brand). One of the founders of the Australian company, Ernest Robert Williams, called the company Woolworths as part of a dare, only to find that FW Woolworth had not trademarked the name in Australia, therefore the trademark was deemed valid.

    This highlight the issue of trademarks. Even in a globalised society, a company cannot expect by implication that its trademark will automatically be protected across the world, without registering the trademark correctly. If it were, could Volkswagen sue Apple for the use of the "i" letter since the company first used the designation on the Golf GTi in 1975?

    Perhaps somebody could trademark the word iDIOT, to prevent situations like this from occurring.

  11. How... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... iLaughed.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.