Trademark Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Proview halts iPad sales in second Chinese city, says nationwide iPad ban would be "difficult"

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 15th, 2012)

The recent Chinese court ruling that Proview owns a trademark on the word iPad may prove to be a problem for Apple. Recently, officials in the Chinese province of Shijiazhuang began seizing iPads at one reseller. Now, these seizures are happening in a second province. According to the New York ...

Proview wants China to halt iPad imports, exports

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 14th, 2012)

Proview International Holding is moving against Apple now that the Chinese courts decided the Shenzen company owns a trademark on the word iPad. Roger Xie, a lawyer for Proview, spoke to Business Week and told them the company has not been able to reach an agreement with Apple over the use of the ...

iPads seized from one Shijiazhuang, China Apple reseller

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 13th, 2012)

Local officials from China's Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC) reportedly confiscated iPads from an Apple reseller in the city of Shijiazhuang. An article in the Chinese newspaper, Hebei Youth Daily, claims this seizure was the result of a recent Proview iPad trademark infringement ...

Apple could be forced to stop selling "iPads" in China

by Mike Schramm (Feb 6th, 2012)

Stick with us on this one -- it seems unlikely, but this case could have some wider consequences. Last year, Apple filed a lawsuit against a company named Proview Technology Shenzen in China. It was pretty common by Apple's standards: The company was using the name iPad, and Apple was trying to ...

Apple contests iPad trademark rejection in China

by Steven Sande (Feb 1st, 2012)

Last December, a Chinese court rejected Apple's ownership of the iPad trademark in China in favor of Proview International, a large but relatively unknown Chinese monitor company. Now Apple is appealing that ruling, asking the courts to transfer the iPad trademark to it and also asking for Proview ...

Samsung to release newly-designed Galaxy Tab 7.0N in Germany

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 13th, 2012)

Samsung may be bold when it comes to its Apple fanboy commercials, but the handset maker is starting to back down on some of its products. According to BestBoyz.de, the tablet manufacturer is releasing a newly-designed Galaxy Tab 7.0N in Germany that does not infringe on Apple's patents or ...

Chinese court rejects Apple trademark lawsuit over iPad name

by Chris Rawson (Dec 6th, 2011)

According to Reuters, a Chinese court in Shenzhen (home to the Foxconn factories where many Apple products are assembled) has rejected a trademark infringement suit Apple filed against Proview Technology over the iPad's name. Proview has owned the Chinese rights to the iPad trademark since ...

Apple takes on porn sites in domain name dispute

by Steven Sande (Nov 3rd, 2011)

Apple has filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against seven domain names featuring the word iPhone that forward to mobile porn sites -- including one site called iPhone4s.com. The latter is especially worrisome, since it matches the name of Apple's new ...

Samsung reportedly offers Apple deal to end dispute

by Kelly Hodgkins (Sep 30th, 2011)

The Wall Street Journal claims Samsung has offered a deal to Apple that would let the tablet maker sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Terms of the deal were not released, but it supposedly will "comfort" Apple. Other details suggest it won't stop the litigation, but will temporarily avoid ...

Apple can't get "multi-touch" trademark

by Michael Grothaus (Sep 26th, 2011)

Apple has been denied a trademark for the term "multi-touch," reports MacRumors. Apple originally applied for the trademark on January 9, 2007, just one day before the first iPhone was introduced. The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the initial trademark application, but per ...

iCloud Communications to change name, drop suit against Apple

by Michael Grothaus (Sep 7th, 2011)

Back in June iCloud Communications, LLC of Arizona sued Apple for trademark infringement claiming Apple's use of the word "iCloud" is damaging to their business. iCloud Communications offers cloud computing products and services among their various other Internet and telephony services. ...

Apple not happy with food company's logo

by Kelly Hodgkins (Sep 7th, 2011)

Apple is accusing a Chinese food company of trademark infringement over its fruit-themed logo. The Sichuan Fangguo Food Co., Ltd. uses a round red logo with a stem and leaf. Apple claims this logo borrows conceptual elements, specifically the leaf, from its logo. Fangguo's CEO Zhao Yi ...

Salesforce CEO Benioff "gifted" App Store trademark and domain to Jobs

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Aug 26th, 2011)

In an interview with Bloomberg, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tells an interesting tale of how he gave the App Store domain and trademark to to Apple as a gift to Steve Jobs. Of course, the App Store trademark itself is now under scrutiny, with Microsoft and Amazon claiming it is a generic ...

Apple granted a trademark for the word 280

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jul 6th, 2011)

Apple received a trademark for the word 280 and the icon for its iOS navigation app. The trademark application was filed in April 2010 and granted on June 28, 2011. "280", for those who are wondering, refers to Route 280 which runs next to Apple's campus at One Infinite Loop in Cupertino. The ...

Apple trademarks AirDrop

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jun 20th, 2011)

Apple introduced AirDrop as one new feature included in Mac OS X Lion. AirDrop is a file sharing service that lets you easily send files to other nearby AirDrop users. Apple now owns the trademark for the service, apparently acquiring it from Urban Airship, Inc. The trademark application was ...