Apple Legal forces iPodder name change

It's all a matter of opinion. In my opinion, Apple just climbed on the back of other people's markets. I think calling an iPod a Zen or an Archos is paying it a compliment that it doesn't really deserve. After all, Apple had to compensate the original Apple Music for stealing their name

Here's what I wonder: if they also went after iPodLounge ... then why don't they go after iPodGarage or LoadPod ... Bill Palmer's sites certainly give Apple a bad look.

One other point that works to the advantage of Juice (agree, not a good name but if it continues its success, people will not care), is that the iPodder name linked the technology too closely to the iPod. I lost count of the number of people whom I thought might be interested in podcasts (a name like William's ""xerox" now in the public domain) who think they cannot participate as they do not own an iPod. Perhaps iPod itself will go the way of xerox and personal audio players will all be called iPods. We once called them Walkmans.

Just in case anyone forgot, there's that clothing company selling shirts with the multi-hue Apple logo (though no bite out of it) - the judge ruled that since Apple wasn't selling clothing, their copyright didn't extend there - hence the ipod socks ... and yes, this was in CHina but you never know ... it's sad but better to be safe than sorry - the damn lawyers win yet another one over common sense ...

Like William, I do understand where Apple is coming from. I've been involved in legal actions of this nature and the sad fact is that if you don't protect your trademark consistently, you risk being screwed when the time comes that it's really been abused in some fashion. That being said, Juice Receiver is pretty much the suckiest name ever.

Maybe its a good idea to name a new app some sort of appley type name - then have the apple lawers burst down the door. This is great publicity - for free too. There probably should be banners like the "take back the web" firefox banners in the form of "I was sued by apple" or something. My two yen.

Quite apart from the rationale behind Apple's move (very useful comment William) maybe the unofficial Apple supporters community should co-operate to devise a set of names that can be used in lieu of the official protected names that become synonymous with the various products. Of course it would pay to quietly copyright "Braeburn" and "whiteBook", etc, before some smartarse starts trading on them.

Juice Receiver? Heh, that reminds me of a little Penny Arcade friend. Maybe they are related products? :P http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/06/04

When you drop $300 for a new iPod you are buying the quality of the hardware as well as the smooth user experience with iTunes. I have used iPodder and it was often a painful experience. I would not want people confusing a faulty application with the iPod or iTunes. And remember the iPod Halo Effect? People are buying Macs after they experience the iPod and confusing people with third-party applications which are not as nice at iTunes will only hurt that perception of quality.

"Juice Receiver"? Wow does that suck!