trademark

Apple loses bid for music app icon trademark

Apple's efforts to trademark an icon for its iOS music player in the U.S. have been denied due to design from a company that no longer exists.

As part of a decision handed down by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board last week, the group found Apple's icon a bit too similar to one issued to iLike in 2008, upholding an initial finding from a trademark examiner.

iLike, of course, no longer exists. The company was gobbled up by MySpace in late 2009 and was eventually absorbed into the company's own music product.

"In comparing … Read more

Pinterest gives legal punch to 'serial cybersquatter'

Pinterest is sounding its battle cry -- it's had enough of one certain alleged Chinese cybersquatter.

The social network filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week against Qian Jin, who is from Nanjing, China. Pinterest claimed that Jin partook in cyberpiracy, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and more. According to the complaint, Jin has snatched dozens of domain names that are strikingly similar to pinterest.com, including pintesrest.com and pinterest.es.

"This action arises from Defendant's bad-faith registration and use of numerous domain names containing, or confusingly similar to, Pinterest's … Read more

Apple foe Proview finds itself sued by own legal counsel

Proview, the Chinese company that sued Apple over the iPad trademark, is on the receiving end of a lawsuit from its own lawyers.

The Grandall Law Firm is suing Proview for its 4 percent commission on Apple's $60 million settlement, about $2.5 million, according to a Sina Tech report.

Proview founder Yang Rongshan characterized Grandall's lawsuit as "nonsense," according to the report. He claimed that Proview is not currently under "normal operations" and should not be bound by the terms of its obligation to Grandall.

The lawsuit comes less than a month after … Read more

U.S. patent office to hang a shingle in Silicon Valley

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is coming to Silicon Valley in hopes of fostering more efficient patent applications in the tech world.

The office announced that it is opening three more satellite offices throughout the country, including one in heart of California's tech hub. The PTO is already set to open a satellite office in Detroit on July 13 as a part of recent patent reform legislation, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.

Silicon Valley leaders have been lobbying for a satellite office for three years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The area accounted for almost one … Read more

Apple settles iPad trademark dispute in China for $60M

Apple's iPad trademark trouble in China appears to be behind it.

The consumer electronics giant has settled its dispute over ownership of the name that graces its line of wildly popular tablets for $60 million, according to an Associated Press report.

CNET contacted Apple for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

The settlement puts to rest a legal spat that spanned two continents. Proview had filed numerous lawsuits in China that seek to keep Apple's tablet off retailer shelves and stop Apple from using the iPad trademark on its products.

Proview also filed a … Read more

Chinese court delays ruling on Apple iPad trademark suit

A Chinese court will delay ruling on Apple's appeal in the iPad trademark case brought by a company in China as long as the two parties are working toward an agreement, Bloomberg reported today.

Apple appealed in February after an earlier ruling said the iPad maker did not own the trademark in China. The lawsuit was filed by Proview Technology. The Chinese company has filed suit against Apple in the U.S. as well.

Proview argues that it owns the iPad trademark and should be compensated for Apple's use of the name, or Apple should change the tablet'… Read more

RIM wins court ruling over BBM trademark

While other parts of its business appear to be on the ropes, Research In Motion learned today that it is free to use the BBM acronym to describe its popular BlackBerry Messenger software.

A Canada Federal Court found that the BlackBerry maker's use of BBM did not infringe on the trademark of broadcast measurement firm BBM Canada, which has owned the trademark for more than 50 years, because the two companies operated in different industries.

"We are pleased that the Federal Court of Canada sided with RIM and confirmed that RIM's use of BBM does not infringe … Read more

Man sues to make 'Google' ordinary word

Have you ever asked someone to Bing something?

When Microsoft launched the word, it was surely in the hope that it would catch on. Alas, we either Google something or we do nothing.

Now, an Arizonan called David Elliott wishes the courts would bow to him and to the inevitable. For he is suing to have all of Google's trademarks set asunder. "Google," he says, just means "search on the Web."

You can see his point. But then you might ask yourself why David Elliott, of all human beings, has taken up this cause.

Well, … Read more

Facebook trademark suit against Faceporn goes nowhere in court

Things don't seem to quite be going Facebook's way currently.

It has something to do with being a little too puffed up (at least by its bankers), so I'm told.

I am sad, therefore, to bring news of more bad tidings for the company. For it has been whipped in court by a doubtless upstanding Norwegian site called Faceporn.

Faceporn, as its name indicates, brings pornography to your face. And Facebook, which in its keenness, claims trademark ownership of myriad combinations of the words "face", "book," and "porn" (I might be … Read more

Apple, Proview battling over price to settle iPad trademark fight

Apple wants to pay Proview to put an end to their iPad trademark fight. But the price tag remains a sticking point.

Apple has offered to pay Proview $16 million for the rights to the iPad name in China. But Proview is reportedly looking for a lot more, according to a report from Chinese site Sina.com (English translation) picked up from the Beijing Times. Citing a "source close to the negotiations," the Beijing Times said that Apple's offer was rejected by Proview earlier this week.

Struggling to stay afloat after filing for bankruptcy, the China-based monitor … Read more