The way US trademark law is worded, if a company doesn't actively try to protect their trademark, then they lose all right to it. This includes a trademark that becomes so successful that its name is used to describe the product. This happened to Kleenex. Now anyone can use the term Kleenex anywhere and the company that makes them can't legally stop them.
While this hasn't happened with Apple yet with the Ipod, if Apple doesn't try to fight it they could loose all rights to that trademark.
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The way US trademark law is worded, if a company doesn't actively try to protect their trademark, then they lose all right to it. This includes a trademark that becomes so successful that its name is used to describe the product. This happened to Kleenex. Now anyone can use the term Kleenex anywhere and the company that makes them can't legally stop them.
While this hasn't happened with Apple yet with the Ipod, if Apple doesn't try to fight it they could loose all rights to that trademark.