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News tagged ‘trademark’
Apple Sues Amazon
According to Bloomberg, Apple has sued Amazon over the use of the name “App Store”. Apple, in a complaint filed March 18, accused Amazon.com of trademark infringement and unfair competition and asks for a court order to prevent the company from using the “App Store” name. Amazon is planning to launch its own “Amazon Appstore” for Android devices, a marketplace to distribute and download apps. Apple claims to have contacted Amazon three times demanding that they change their name, but Amazon has yet to provide a "substantive response".
“Amazon has begun improperly using Apple's App Store mark in connection with Amazon's mobile software developer program," Apple said in the complaint. “We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers.”
Leave a commentAnother Apple's Patent Reveals a New Capacitive Touchscreen Technology
This week U.S. Patent and Trademark Office made public another patent application from Apple. It is entitled "Touch Sensing Device Having Conductive Nodes" and reveals a new way of creating new capacitive touchscreens that allow to make devices even thinner than before.
It is noted that existing capacitive sensing technology works very well, but it can be further improved, and not only to make devices thinner, but also to achieve better results in power saving and therefore battery life.
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New patent application reveals a spiral Cover Flow UI for music selection
Another Apple's patent application had been unveiled this week by the U.S. Patent and trademark Office. It is entitled "User Interface for Media Playback" and describes a new UI for browsing music albums on the iPhone and other touch-based devices.
The technology uses the idea of Cover Flow interface, which allows users to flip through album art and select the desired music, but now albums are proposed to be moved in a spiral form, not horizontally.
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Apple works on improved contextual voice commands in its devices
This week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office made public another Apple's patent application that describes the new voice control method. It is entitled "Contextual Voice Commands" and its aim is to make voice control more efficient and reliable.
Apple's proposed system determines the voice command possibilities for every application so that you could give more precise directions by voice to the device.
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Apple develops new keyboard backlights
This week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released another pile of Apple's patent applications that reveal the company’s interest in further improving of its technology of keyboard backlights. It is said in the documents, that though current keyboards have a light feedback, for example, when the "Caps Lock" is enabled, more informative keyboards would be more beneficial for users.
"Most conventional keyboards lack the ability to convey complex information to a user (such as, for example, more information than just whether the CAPS lock key is on). And while some conventional keyboards may include backlit keys, conventional keyboards with backlighting do not offer the ability to dynamically control lighting schemes for each of the keys individually based on interaction from the user."
Apple allegedly paid over $1M for iAd trademark
As you may remember, in April 2010 Apple announced its iAd advertising program. Shortly after that Innovate Media Group LLC filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing it of unfair competition and trademark infringement. The history of Innovate Media reveals that the company has been also producing "iAds" - online video ads - in 2006, and in 2007 the respective trademark was filed.
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Another Apple's patent application reveals new methods of protecting electronic devices
New Apple's application with a title "Nitriding Stainless Steel for Consumer Electronic Products" was published this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The document describes a cost-effective system, which can place a nitride layer on the surface of stainless steel exterior.
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Proview Asks Apple For $1.5 Billion For iPad trademark
According to the Financial Times, A Taiwanese contract manufacturer of flat screens Proview sold the "global trademark" of iPad to Apple in 2006 but it still possesses the trademark in China. Few years ago Proview released an I-Pad tablet, but the product wasn't successful and the company abandoned the project.
Caixine, which is a Chinese news site, reveals that Proview asks more than 1.5 billion dollars from Apple. Proview chairman Yang Rongshan even threatened the company:
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Future iPhones, iPads could recognize individual users
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revealed a patent application from Apple entitled "Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device." The invention describes methods to identify users through a picture, the sound of their voice, or even their heartbeat.
"The photograph, recording, or heartbeat can be compared to a photograph, recording or heartbeat of authorized users of the electronic device to determine whether they match," the application reads. "If they do not match, the current user can be detected as an unauthorized user."
If an unauthorized user were to attempt to access an iPhone or another device, the owner of the handset could be notified via a phone call, text message or e-mail. It could send the owner - or the police - a picture of the unauthorized user, or other information specific to the potential thief.
The handset could recognize an unauthorized user if they do certain uncharacteristic activities with the phone, such as hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removing a SIM card.
Apple Plans To Bring an HD Radio Technology To iPhone
A new Apple’s patent application entitled “Digital Radio Tagging Using an RF Tuner Accessory” has been revealed this week. It describes an HD Radio technology that may be later delivered to iPod touch and iPhone and gives its users greater flexibility in interaction with broadcast media. Nowadays HD Radio is a trademarked wireless radio format that allows FM and AM radio stations to simulcast analog and digital audio at the same time on the same channel. Currently it is owned by iBiquity.
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Apple now owns the 'iPad' trademark
After the iPad event, making the name official, Fujitsu company claimed the name "iPad" was still very much theirs. We're not sure what kind of deal the two companies had — money, patents, licenses, who knows. What matters is that now that iPad trademark belongs entirely to Apple:
Apple files for "Magic Trackpad" trademark
Patently Apple reports that Apple filed for the 'magic trackpad' trademark. US Patent & Trademark Office published application on February 26, 2010. 'Magic Trackpad' likely refers to an external peripheral device for desktop computers or laptops plugged into external displays. There has been speculation about some sort of multi-touch "trackpad gadget" from Apple. Maybe Apple will provide desktop users a way to take advantage of some external multi-touch system.
The application requests registration in International Class 009 under a number of categories relating to computer hardware and software, as well as several types of peripheral devices:
International Class 009: Computers; computer software; computer operating system software; computer utility software; computer hardware; computer peripherals; scanners; touchscreens; keyboards; computer mice; trackballs; trackpads; touchpads; light pens; joysticks; game controllers; graphics tablets; digitizers; cables and connectors; flash memory drives; USB drives; solid state storage devices; barcode readers.
The iPhone is now an officially registered trademark of Apple Inc
More than 3 years after Steve Jobs announced the iPhone on the stage at Macworld 2007, Apple has finally secured the trademark. iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. – officially as of Feb 09, 2010. The registration number is 3,746,840.
The procedure, as you can see, required a lot of time, becasue Cisco in the US and Comwave in Canada were marketing VoIP products under the same name.
Now Apple has a new goal - iPad trademark.
Apple's Tablet Might Be Called the iPad
A lot has been said about the rumored Apple Tablet, and after evidence was discovered that Apple was interested in the name "iSlate", many have adopted that as the most likely name for Apple's new device. New evidence however has revealed that Apple may, in fact, be positioning "iPad" as the name for the imminent tablet device.
A search in the trademark databases reveals that several companies applied for a trademark "iPad" in Canada, Australis, New Zealand, Europe and Hong Kong. The filing dates for most of these trademark applications are July 2009, the latest ones are January 15th, 2010.
We believe that Apple is behind these trademark applications for iPad and that it may be the name for Apple's new tablet device to be revealed next week.
New iPhone OS to Bring Contacts On Home Screen
According to a new application filed by Apple, the new and upcoming iPhone OS could offer contact icons on the home screen. These icons can be used to invoke apps, retrieve and display contacts information, or can be modified to display related info, tied to an individual contact. This patent, which was filed back in July 2008.
The icon can also be used to invoke one or more applications that are personalized to the contact. The icon can be modified to display information related to the contact. In one aspect, an icon associated with an entity can be temporarily displayed on the mobile device based on the proximity of the mobile device to the entity.
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office today has accepted Apple’s filing. This could probably mean that we may soon see this feature being introduced in the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0, which is expected to be announced with the next-gen iPhone in summer.