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Apple Granted Trademark For Its Stores
walterbyrd sends this news from ZDNet:
"The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office approved Apple's request to trademark the design and layout of its stores last week, according to patent office records. ... Apple has requested that no store be allowed to replicate various features, including 'a clear glass storefront surrounded by a panelled facade' or an 'oblong table with stools... set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall.'"
At least you can't say that Apple doesn't learn from their own mistakes.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
That's a whole load of coffee shops going to have to close then.
HMV, Game, Debenhams, JJB, DW, JD... just a few stores i can think of now that have the all glass front, the table and stool layout, currys use it, comet used to use it, asda use it in their electronics departments... seems prior art doesnt count for anything anymore, neither does "your patent cant be completely fucking retarded".
portfolio
Mmmm store credit okay?
At least they stopped short of trademarking glass doors or ventilation system circulating oxygen.
So when should we expect the Apple borg icon? We've given MS a lot shit over the years. Lately, though, MS seems tame (as they are not a serious player in the markets that matter) compared to some of these companies of today.
So Apple again patented something as vague as a sneeze and no one at the USPTO office blinked? NO... the system isnt broken, its F*&$3!
when they own a method of extractin' crap out of an a.hole we are are doomed.
they didn't patent the color of the glass
Just use a clear urethane storefront?
It has a new unifying enemy.
An oblong table? Any idiot could think of that. But an oblong table with stools and screens nearby? That's the genius of Apple.
..fucking-believable.
Captcha is 'Circus' - quite appropriate for how I feel about the US patent system.
The bowing to the excesses and insanity of capitalism has reached bizarre extremes. This is how little kids act. "Mommy! Jimmy is COPYING me! Make him stop!"
This is getting ridiculous....
I guess at this time next week every bar/pub will be getting a cease and desist letter.
In this case the trademark is defined by the illustration, which is basically a line drawing of an Apple Store minus the logo. The text in the summary is drawn from the "description of mark" field, which is just a description of the image and does not define the trademark. Further, the summary suggests that Apple is individually claiming trademark protection on various features of its store design ('clear glass storefront...' or an 'oblong table with stools...'). This is not the case. The trademark claims the entire design as a whole.
I was wondering where the next "innovation" would take place. I suppose the next "innovation" in their store will be that it is 10% smaller and allows voice commands.
Everyone will complain, but if I asked you to name one consumer tech company that does things most differently than any other, you'd say Apple. Why should Apple not enjoy the protection of these differences--which clearly make them very successful? I don't have a solution in particular here, but it's hard to claim that Apple has nothing to pursue here.
Scorta futuere amo!
i was gonna go with... PENIS
look exactly the same...
so thats going to be fun for them !
picture of a windows store next to apple store
regards
John Jones
But Microsoft trademarked their store design too, and had it granted in 2011. This looks much like return fire, and not an opening shot.
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85194406&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch
when you see this?
http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=samsung+store
I'm pretty sure you're not thinking Microsoft Store.
Nor does it "grant" them. It registers them. They are created by use.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
The last time I walked by an Apple store the ratio of BlueShirts:Customers was roughly 1:1 but was still a crowded store. One blue shirt. One customer. It reminded me of Circuit City.
Falling stock price, charismatic founder gone, too many employees bothering people when you come in. Oh, it won't go away overnight. It's too big. It's not cool any more though. You know why there's no iTV? Because when they finally release a TV the snobs will be shocked into reality: we can't line up to by a TV. TV is for idiots.
There's no place left for Apple to go. It's just a boring dividend stock. It's Fossil watches, Coach bags, etc; except for technology. Once again, not going out of business anytime soon... just not going like gangbusters. Maybe it'll go belly-up in 10 years if they get really stupid and go all JC Penny with a management change, but it'll take one heck of a suit-wearing idiot and a hard recession to kill this beast.
The summary makes this sound much worse than it actually is. To be infringing, a store would have to:
1. Have the same arrangement of windows (not just the single large panel mentioned in the summary, but also the smaller side panels), *and*
2. Have cantilevered shelves, *and*
3. Have multiple rectangular tables, *and*
4. Have flush-mounted video screens on the rear wall.
It's possible a court *might* hold that something hitting 3 out of 4 of these was confusingly similar, but by no means certain. Courts aren't stupid.
The summary gives the impression this is a patent, but the /. article title says trademark. Actually, according to the linked USPTO file, it's a service mark.
I had once considered applying for a registered trademark for the FreeDOS Project, just to protect the name. To be clear, a registered trademark is R not TM. But the Apple file is a service mark, or SM. To simplify, a SM is basically the same as a TM, but the understanding is a SM will be for a short term use, for various definitions of "short term" (usually a SM is applied to an advertising slogan, like Walmart's "Save money. Live better.")
First of all, to apply for either mark in the US, you need to pay a fee to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). But even if you file, there is the issue of diligence. If there's a violation (someone uses that trademark or service mark without permission) the mark holder fails to prosecute or take action, the mark can be found in a court to be unprotected and open for use. There are other ways to lose a mark as well.
However, it is not necessary to register a mark with the USPTO in order to claim it as a trademark or service mark. The USPTO says any time you claim rights in a mark, you may use the "TM" (trademark) or "SM" (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the USPTO.
Owning a mark registration on the Principal Register does give you several things:
So really what Apple is doing here is registering the layout and design of their store as a service mark (an identity) so that if someone else comes along and uses the same layout and design, Apple can make a stronger case to sue them. The legal theory is that you could have looked up the service mark to see if someone else was using it so it's harder to defend yourself if you are found to be infringing. Not impossible to defend, just harder.
Companies do this kind of thing all the time. It just doesn't usually hit the news. Coke has a registered mark on the shape their bottle, for example.
This isn't an Apple patent, it's not an abuse of the patent system. It's just a service mark.
i was gonna go with... PENIS
or Vagina
Be seeing you...
I think I will trademark my ass, and then sue all the corporations for trying to screw it.
See subject.
This is getting f****ing ridiculous, is there no prior art with trademarks? Almost every store I have ever patronized in the last forty years has had a clear glass storefront surrounded by a facade. Those extreme yogurt places that have been popping up everywhere over the last several years all have tables and chairs set below overhead video displays.
n/t.
PS: Stop your bitching.
Thanks,
AAPL shareholder.
practice in the restaurant industry. Lots of times you can tell exactly what fast food place they are building just by the shape. MS would just need to change one or two cosmetic things to not violate if they do already anyway. Not much to see here.
If for some reason you can't be troubled that much, the Headline should be in your window's title bar. Unless you're using one of those browsers that's way too cool for a title bar.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
In the US, patents and copyrights are clearly enabled constitutionally by the "copyright clause" - article 1, section 8, clause 8, which in its entirety states:
Trademarks are not so enabled per se. Lawmakers saw an open door in the "commerce clause" - article 1, section 8, clause 3, which in its entirety states:
It's pretty intellectually clear to many of us that the clause was not intended as an excuse for the staggering load of crap hustled into federal law under its supposed umbrella. There is absolutely nothing there which suggests that trademarks are the valid concern of the federal government, in the same way that clause 8 clearly supports patents and copyrights.
But time marches on. An argument can be made that 50 separate states with a forest of 50 different policies on trademarks (and the other stuff questionably justified under the commerce clause) would not be a good thing. I don't make that argument, but I recognize that it has merit.
Be that as it may, the trademark system is subject to legislative tuning in the same way as the patent system and the copyright system. Even if one accepts that trade names and product names should be subject to trademark protection, there is no reason to fall into the absurd black hole of allowing STORE DESIGN AND LAYOUT, and god knows what else, to be subject to trademark. This should be reformed legislatively, the same way the choking absurdity of software patents and ornamental design patents (not technical design patents), and today's almost eternal duration of copyrights, should be reformed legislatively.
Obviously, letting some Authority or Bureau or Commission, answerable to no one, and in the thrall of special interests, weave a repressive forest of regulation does not cut it.
Apple deserves to be boycotted for a dozen reasons, at least.
I stopped buying Apple years ago, couldn't be happier about my decision.
Now that Android has caught up with iOS, and you can get a $250 Chromebook, who needs Apple?
Wow, they really have run out of ideas as this point.
I can see golden arches being a trademark, but not a glass storefront.
Name me a restaurant that has trademarked something like a glass storefront? And tell me how common that is.
Hope they don't try to enforce this here in Australia.
The Setup of the Apple store is the general way mobile phone stores have been setup here for several years. Colors and textures might be different - however the layout and form (of the tables / displays) of the stores are pretty much identical.
I am still amazed some of the patents are handed out in the USA.
- The Bar
- The Coffee Shop
- The Fast Food Restraunt
Dosen't Bestbuy have a clear glass storefront?
And the Apple's zealots here think Apple invented a clear glass storefront.
It's too bad that a company of whom I used to be a big fan, whose products I've used for decades and whose stock has enriched me and my family, has now behaved so badly that I can only wish ill on them.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Oh for Christ's sake, you guys have such a hardon for bashing Apple that you don't get the big picture:
No more apple-like stores
No more trendy weird-ass stores
No more uninformed employees that wear the same shirt
Look a fucking gift horse in the mouth, are we? Shut the fuck up, we should. Fear leads to stupid.
Now we need to do a trademark search every time we design a desk layout: is square monitor with square table taken?
The patent processing fees are probably in the millions per month.
The only reason for patents to exist, is the processing fee that gets paid to bureaucrats. They encourage the companies to file more patents by approving all of the possible ones and rejecting them, if anybody complains later on.
This bureaucratic money making system is beautiful.
~ Best man at your service.
Did they also patent their quality customer service where an employee tells you to wait in front of a display so it looks like you're a customer rather than someone who's been waiting over fifteen minutes just to talk to someone about your broken iPad?
So Apple has gained another government granted 'right' to something that shouldn't be granted. That's their entire MO. Oh, you use telephones in your business to call suppliers? We have a trademark on that.
Two years ago I patented commenting systems that use modpoints for "Funny," "Informative," and "Insightful."
You'll be hearing from my lawyer shortly.
So here it is, you learn something knew every day. I did not even know the US had the framework in place to trademark physical layouts of entire stores. This is simply amazing. I suppose we should be able to skirt the law with enough bribery and loopholes by sliding those stools over 1 mm?
Will the US PTO police be checking peoples booth width?
WHAT THE FUCK YOU STUPID GOD DAMN IDIOTS WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY SHOOT THESE MOTHERFUCKERS.
The non-specific word you're looking for is "mark". A service mark is a mark used to distinguish services. Like "Anonymous Coward" for correcting your misunderstanding. A trademark is a mark which distinguishes goods, like "Anonymous Coward" brand clue bats suitable for hitting the mistaken over the head.
There is no 'short term' aspect of any mark. It either distinguishes goods and/or services or it doesn't.
Who cares! I have yet to visit an Apple store where they answer my Mac and Apple related questions. When I see an Apple store I basically see a big box full of morons who are under trained and under qualified for a job. For instance one of my questions had to do with the audio chipset used in the new Mac book line up, not a hard question for someone who works at Apple but a very important question for someone considering what notebook to buy next. Other questions I've asked have had to do with audio driver impudence, type of hard drives support in devices and others. In all cases I get the same answer, "I don't know, were not trained with that kind of information", or in other words, "Were the dumb face of a tech company who doesn't care".
Just in time for Apple's trendy fad of a facade to come back as retro.
Have they been into the Microsoft stores?!? Almost identical design and layout.
It would seem someone from Apple Retail took a walk through one of the many shopping malls their stores are located in, and got a load of this: http://content.microsoftstore.com/home.aspx I walk in, and know I'm in a Microsoft Store, not an Apple Store, but my gosh does it reek of being a blatant rip-off. Higher fidelity to the original than most Microsoft rip-offs, too...
I've been visiting Slashdot for quite a number of years now, and I don't agree with this assessment. Slashdot used to be a bunch of cranky Linux / Open Source guys, mixed with some unix graybeards. Now the place is overrun with foaming-at-the-mouth Android fans, intent on berating anything that isn't Android.
I realize that this sounds ridiculous when applied to Slashdot, but truth be told, the quality of discourse around these parts has gone into the shitter in the last two years or so.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
I wonder if they've also accidentally given Microsoft a perpetual license to the look-and-feel of their stores?
I doubt it reading the summary suggests that this might be Apple's revenge:
Apple has requested that no store be allowed to replicate various features, including 'a clear glass storefront surrounded by a panelled facade'
In other words they have managed to trademark windows! ;-)
That look probably fits a lot of bars too.
another word Apple has trademarked around the world is "Startup".
How in the hell the Trademark office gave in so easily on that is beyond me.. but Apple registered in Jamaica first a year or so early (I believe) if that makes any sense to anyone?
Here are the areas Apple's got Startup trademarked:
Retail store services featuring computers, computer software, computer peripherals, mobile phones, and consumer electronic devices, and demonstration of products relating thereto; maintenance, installation and repair of computer hardware, computer peripherals and consumer electronic devices; consulting services in the field of maintenance of computer hardware, computer peripherals, and consumer electronic devices; educational services, namely conducting classes, workshops, conferences and seminars in the field of computers, computer software, computer peripherals, mobile phones, and consumer electronic devices and computer-related services; design and development of computer hardware and software; technical support services in the field of computers, computer hardware, computer software, computer peripherals and consumer electronics; installation, maintenance and updating of computer software; consulting services in the field of computers, computer software and consumer electronics; computer diagnostic services; computer data recovery
I've been visiting Slashdot for quite a number of years now, and I don't agree with this assessment. Slashdot used to be a bunch of cranky Linux / Open Source guys, mixed with some unix graybeards.
I beg to differ.
I guess the Mall will have to shutdown. And all the storefronts in hotels and at the airports... That makes me wonder, what does everyone have that no one's trademarked yet. I'm going to get a trademark for an elongated and storable organ for use in reproductive situations, and make everyone pay me a few bucks for getting a woodie.
Yes, this is a strategic move to sue all stores located in rounded corners.
I defer to your four-digit ID. What do you think Slashdot was like five years ago. What do you think of it today? Do you think it's better, or worse?
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.