Apple Corporate

Apple's effort to trademark the term "Multi-Touch" in the United States has been denied.

MacRumors posts the decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office dated from last week, wherein the governing body denied Apple's application, saying that the term is merely descriptive of how people interact with its products.

"Thus, from the foregoing, we find that 'multi-touch' not only identifies the technology, but also describes how a user of the goods operates the device," the filing from the USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board reads. "Based on the evidence discussed … Read more

Apple will unveil the next incarnation of the iPhone on its corporate campus in Cupertino, Calif., instead of in San Francisco, All Things Digital is reporting.

Citing unnamed sources, ATD's John Paczkowski says the October 4 event will go down at Apple's Town Hall Auditorium and that it's not clear why the change is being made this time around.

Could it be, Paczkowski wonders, that setting the final date was too fluid a proposition to make it practical for Apple to book one of its usual venues in advance? Perhaps the venues were already taken, or maybe Apple simply wanted a more intimate setting, he adds.

In any case, the news, if true, helps support ATD's earlier report of the actual October 4 date--CNET's Josh Lowensohn has noted that Apple's usual product-launch venues, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Moscone Center, both in San Francisco, are reserved that week as part of Oracle's OracleWorld confab.… Read more

San Francisco Police have asked the owners of the bar where an Apple employee lost an unreleased iPhone for permission to review the bar's surveillance footage, CNET has learned. The request is likely part of an internal police probe into how officers assisted Apple in searching for the missing handset, a police spokesman said.

Jose Valle, whose family owns Cava 22, a popular bar-restaurant in the city's Mission District, told CNET Friday that officers from the San Francisco Police Department visited the bar about a week ago and left a message that they wanted to see his surveillance … Read more

Apple has won a second award for customer satisfaction in as many days.

Beyond Philosophy, which assists companies in improving customer experience, announced today that Apple delivers the "most admired customer experience" in the marketplace, besting Amazon.com, Zappos, Starbucks, and Disney, respectively, in the top 5.

"Apple has married all the elements of its experience and connected with its customers in a deeply emotional, irrational way," Steven Walden, senior head of research and consulting at Beyond Philosophy, said in a statement. "Amazon put a stake in the ground when it announced it would become … Read more

For the eighth year in a row, Apple's Macs have satisfied more customers than any other vendor's PCs.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which analyzes consumer feelings toward consumer electronics and appliances, among many other products, said today that Apple's Macs received a score of 87 on the index's 100-point scale measuring customer satisfaction regarding computers. The company's satisfaction score is up 1 percentage point compared to last year's tally, and up 18 percentage points from its low in 1998. What's more, Apple's 87 is the highest mark the company has … Read more

Samsung has filed a counterclaim in Australia against Apple and its iOS-based devices as the bitter battle between the companies continues.

Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in a long struggle in Australia. Apple has charged that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 violates patents it holds. Though Samsung disagrees with that sentiment, the companies agreed earlier this year to a deal that would ban the sale of the U.S. version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Moreover, Samsung agreed to provide Apple with three samples of its Galaxy Tab 10.1, which Apple could then review … Read more

Some people like to be secretive. Then there's the CIA. Then there's Apple.

I have just been moved to watery eyes by a touching tale of Apple's keenness for covert activities, reportedly told by the unnamed developer of "a very successful iPad app."

As whispered to Business Insider, this developer wanted an iPad as soon as he could get one.

He claims that he was "probably the sixth person" to have his hands on the new, new thing. He accompanied three other developers to a dungeon in Cupertino, Calif., where a sample of … Read more

While planning continues ahead of approval and construction of Apple's headquarters reboot, rumor has it that company executives are already considering yet another major campus in its home town of Cupertino, Calif., when this latest project is completed.

In a story about Apple's current campus build effort, the San Jose Mercury News points to a mention by Mayor Gilbert Wong saying that Apple executives told him the company's growth might warrant another building following the completion of campus No. 2:

An Arizona company that sued Apple over its use of the iCloud name seems to have changed its tune--and its name.

iCloud Communications, which alleged in a lawsuit filed in June that the name of Apple's online storage service copied its name and caused confusion over competing products, has withdrawn its claim. The company claimed in its suit that "the goods and services with which Apple intends to use the 'iCloud' mark are identical to or closely related to the goods and services that have been offered by iCloud Communications under the iCloud Marks since its formation in … Read more