AfterDawn: Tech news

Apple loses bid to trademark term 'multi-touch'

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Sep 2011 1:46 User comments (13)

Apple loses bid to trademark term 'multi-touch' Apple has lost in its bid to trademark the term "multi-touch" in the United States.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office says the term cannot be trademarked because it is simply a way of describing how users interact with their products.

Reads the decision (via MR):

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. Based on the evidence discussed above, as well as other evidence in the record, we agree with the examining attorney that Multi-Touch indeed is highly descriptive of a feature of the identified goods.


Continuing on, the filing says that Apple's "evidence" was really just showing off how they marketed the iPhone:

Thus, applicant's evidence pertaining to the success, sales volumes and, to a limited extent, advertising expenditures of the iPhone, is not helpful in establishing that the purchasing public associates the term Multi-Touch with applicant.




Apple initially applied in 2007 along the launch of the original iPhone.

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13 user comments

128.9.2011 02:37

So apples trying to trademark the word multi-touch so no other company can use the term. Whats wrong with apple like seriously . My Mentality b4 was apple yeh dont like em. Now i despite them.
Reading this article makes apple seem like a 8 year old hogging all the toys from other kids.

228.9.2011 02:39

Awwww, I feel for them, I really do. Poor bastards just can't catch a break. They can't sue to stop better products from competitors to be taken off the market. And can't get vague everyday common phrases trademarked.

328.9.2011 04:31
llongtheD
Inactive

Originally posted by jookycola:
Awwww, I feel for them, I really do. Poor bastards just can't catch a break. They can't sue to stop better products from competitors to be taken off the market. And can't get vague everyday common phrases trademarked.
It is sad, but they are trying to do exactly that, as are most corporations. Why do you think there has been this sudden patent buying frenzy? Its a way around being categorized as a monopoly, which is what they want desperately to become, only without that old monopoly stigma. It's all legal now.

428.9.2011 04:34

whats wrong with them mutlti touch was around long before the iphone era just used in other markets it describes a type of feature like "apples multi touch technology" to try to stop others from using it means apple is scared of the underdog and will try anything to keep them at bay aside from making a better product that people really want

528.9.2011 06:11

If you were making a smart phone with a single-core processor, no 4G, and no flash, wouldn't you do everything you could to stop the competition from being able to sell devices that are better in every way including cost? And by, "everything" of course I don't mean hiring engineers to make sure the next design was better...from the leaks so far it seems the iPhone5 still won't have 4G.

628.9.2011 08:31

These guys and the others like them are at least going to cause a massive reform to IP. Or shove us more quickly into a corporate state. But I imagine the reform, I don't see how so many companies can have thousands of patents and none of them overlap or explain the exact same thing in their vague little descriptions. Then again, with as much money these attorneys/lawyers/judges/etc are making from all this I can also see reform being beaten to death and shoved under a rug.

Really though, where do companies get off trying to trademark such generic terms?

728.9.2011 15:09

watz next, tradenaming all the other fruits

828.9.2011 15:58

I am surprised Apple has not try to trademark the noun Apple.
Good lawd!
Jeff

928.9.2011 16:12

Touch screens have been around for almost 40 years.
Although they were wire mesh, Stanford Labs had them in the mid '70's. I was student help at the time before becoming an FTE
Jeff

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 28 Sep 2011 @ 4:13

1028.9.2011 18:29

HAHAHAhahahhahah!!! TOOO BADD APPLE TO CRAPPLE!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA, should change ur trade name to crapple lol

1128.9.2011 19:58

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
I am surprised Apple has not try to trademark the noun Apple.
Good lawd!
Jeff

My guess, they are preparing a lawsuit against the Holy Bible, for the negative connotations of some apple in the Old Testament. Please notice as well that "Snake" is a name which also resembles too much to "Steve", for both of them have exactly the same number of letters, start with an "S", and end with an "E". Coincidence? I don't think so.

And, after that, they'll go after Walt Disney. Shame on him for depicting Snow White being poisoned by an apple!

Btw, a must-visit for us apple haters: http://applehaters.blogspot.com/

1229.9.2011 08:22

Originally posted by dali:
Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
I am surprised Apple has not try to trademark the noun Apple.
Good lawd!
Jeff

My guess, they are preparing a lawsuit against the Holy Bible, for the negative connotations of some apple in the Old Testament. Please notice as well that "Snake" is a name which also resembles too much to "Steve", for both of them have exactly the same number of letters, start with an "S", and end with an "E". Coincidence? I don't think so.

And, after that, they'll go after Walt Disney. Shame on him for depicting Snow White being poisoned by an apple!

Btw, a must-visit for us apple haters: http://applehaters.blogspot.com/
I honestly try not to hate... They just make it hard not to.

1329.9.2011 09:03

Originally posted by buxtahuda:
I honestly try not to hate... They just make it hard not to.

Yes, I feel the same. In fact, if you take a look at this and many other hater-maintained sites, you'll see they're not as biased as anyone may think... Because they don't need to! The plain and simple truth is hateable enough.

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