Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/24/apple_pod_row/
Apple in 873-page legal claim to word 'Pod'
For Jobs i's only
Posted in Media, 24th September 2010 20:37 GMT
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Apple really, really, really wants exclusive rights to the word “Pod,” in names for tech products, the company has argued in an 873-page legal brief filed earlier this week.
Steve Jobs & Co submitted the voluminous document in a dispute with Sector Labs, a startup that's developing a projector called the Video Pod, Wired.com reported [1]. The Reg has been unable to confirm this because the filing (PDF, we're told) [2] was evidently more than the Patent and Trademark Office website could bear.
Apple is reportedly arguing that a video projector with the word “Pod” in its name would cause confusion with its own iPod products. Apple has a long history of attacking tech companies that use the name, going after MyPodder, TightPod, PodShow and Podium. And, of course, one can't forget the company's threats against the iPood, a small spade used by Aussie campers to bury their shit [3]. But according to Wired.com, Sector Labs is the only outfit to take Apple on.
The dispute is scheduled to go to trial over the next month.
A lawyer representing Sector Labs tells the publication there's a growing trend of dominant tech firms trying to assume ownership of ordinary words. A trademark infringement suit Facebook filed against a company called Teachbook is one example.
“What I'm hoping to do with this case is to really reach a lot broader of an audience and make it so entrepreneurs and small businesses can use the English language as they see fit in branding their products,” she says. ®