Apple's future won't be brought to you by the letter 'i'
3/12/2010 12:46:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Apple has been dealt a severe blow having been told that it no longer has a monopoly on the letter "i" as part of the name for its products. A trademarks tribunal has knocked back Apple's bid to stop a small company from trademarking the name DOPi for use on its laptop bags and cases for Apple products.
Apple argued that the DOPi name - which is iPod spelt backwards - was too similar to its own popular portable music player, which has sold in excess of 100 million units worldwide.
Apple has long since relied on its legal muscle to pursue any individual or company it sees as infringing on its copyright and trademarks.
But its ambitions to make widespread claims on the letter "i" came to a grinding halt when the tribunal rejected Apple's claim that punters might be confused into thinking that they were buying an Apple product.
While the case does not affect Apple's current trademarks, companies wanting to use the "i" prefix will have a better chance of getting away with it, lawyers say.
It is just the latest in a string of David and Goliath battles. In the one corner is Apple with a market capitalisation of close to $US200 billion, making it the fourth largest publicly traded American company, and, in the other, is Wholesale Central, based in Sydney's western suburbs that, in the six months to the end of June 2007, had sales of $71,000.
In the tribunal hearing, IP Australia, the government body that oversees trademark applications, said Apple overlooked the fact that there were already a large number of products that have the "i" prefix, for example iSkin and iSoft to name just two, all of which are operating in the same class of electronic goods as Apple.
The registrar overseeing the case Michael Kirov, who confessed to being a tech head and a fan of Apple's products, judged that Apple failed to demonstrate that a "person of ordinary intelligence and memory" would automatically assume that just because a product carries the letter "i" it is an Apple product.
A lawyer only has to prove that a person might have "cause to wonder" whether DOPi or iPod are made by Apple in order to mount a case.
Intellectual property lawyer Trevor Choy says this is possibly the first case in which IP Australia has said no on this issue.
"A competitor can sometimes get away with registering the reverse spelling of a registered trade mark - iPOD and DOPi. Here, they said that DOPi stands for 'Digital Options and Personalised Items'," said Choy.
He said this clears the way for potentially more trademarks with the letter "i" but that it doesn't mean it is open season on Apple and its "i".
"They can do so more easily," said Choy. "But it is not guaranteed, because if they still steer too close, they can be stopped. For example, someone trying to register iPODE will still be seen as too close. "
Apple and the owner of the DOPi brand, Suzana Molnar, declined to comment on this story.
Apple is known for having an overzealous legal team that will relentlessly pursue people and companies that use any Apple trademarks or logos.
In December last year, Melbourne computer company Macpro Computers claimed Apple was "trying to burn us out" with legal fees in another David and Goliath battle over the iPod maker's trademarks.
Peter McRae, managing director of Macpro Computers in Collingwood, has provided "Macpro"-branded computers and technical support to businesses for 26 years but has been jumping through legal hoops ever since Apple was preparing to launch its Mac Pro line of computers about 3½ years ago.
IP Australia found in McRae's favour but Apple appealed against the decision to the Federal Court. The trial is set to run over three days in June this year.
Similarly, in November last year, the Sydney-based developer of the iPodRip software, Mathew Peterson, said he feared he might have to lay off most of his staff after Apple legal threats forced him to undertake radical changes to his business.
Despite the software being available for six years prior to the Apple threats and providing useful functions missing from iTunes, Apple's cease and desist letter forced him to stop using "iPod" in his software's name, to remove any Apple-related logos from his product and to relinquish control of his domain name, ipodrip.com.
In October last year, Apple in Australia disputed a trademark application for Woolworths covering its new logo, which featured a "W" fashioned into the shape of an apple.
In January 2007, Apple was sued by Cisco Systems over the use of the "iPhone" trademark. About a month later both companies announced an agreement whereby they were each allowed to use the iPhone name worldwide.
And way back in 1978, Apple Corps (the record label and holding company founded by the Beatles) sued Apple Computer for trademark infringement.
The two companies settled in 1981 but they were in and out of court over related matters until February 2007, when they agreed that Apple would own all Apple-related trademarks and license some of those back to Apple Corps.
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