Apple Goes After the Term 'Podcast' 419
Udo Schmitz writes "Earlier this year, Apple went up against companies using the word 'pod' in their product names. Now, Apple is going after the term 'podcasting'. Wired has the complete text of Apple's cease-and-desist letter to Podcast Ready." From the article: "Robert Scoble -- whose own company, PodTech, may be at risk in this witch hunt -- has weighed in on the issue by suggesting that the tech community as a whole adopt other terms like "audiocast" and 'videocast' (or alternately, 'audcast' and 'vidcast') to describe this type of content, while other folks feel that fighting Apple and generating a ton of negative press for Cupertino is the best solution. Our take? Apple should be happy that its golden goose is getting so much free publicity, and if it isn't, we know of several companies that probably wouldn't mind if zencast, zunecast, or sansacast became the preferred terminology."
There goes my week! (Score:5, Insightful)
Trademarks are ridiculous when they're normal, everyday words. While I don't support trademark law, I can understand "Xerox," but pod? Come on.
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Informative)
I use iTunes for playing music and podcasts but I haven't visited the Music Store before iTunes 7 in a *long* time. Now that they are really pushing podcasting content on there, I'm all about finding free media.
Don't piss off your userbase Apple, you should know better.
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Informative)
They're not going after peopel who create podcasts. They're going after Infostructure Solutions LLC and Podcast Ready Inc. over the terms 'Mypodder' and 'Podcast Ready' which were recently filed for trademarks.
Re:There goes my week! (Score:4, Funny)
Gimme a fucking break.
More specifically (Score:4, Funny)
-Rick
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Informative)
On the subject of XXXcasting (Score:3, Informative)
Pretty much, yeah. Though this almost makes Microsoft look smart for discouraging use of the term "podcast" on campus [com.com] last year. (Almost.) According to that article, they were using the term "blogcast" internally.
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple is a trademark whore. They seem sue anybody using a term that might be related to thier products even if the term itself is not trademarked. But they don't concern themselves at the onset. They wait to see if something actually becomes popular to send in the wolves.
Bullshit. Apple likes the fact that the term podcast is popular and based on their existing brand. It is as though everyone started calling modding pickups for racing toyotafizzing. Toyota would be cool with that too. The problem is when another company or companies apply for trademarks that include your trademark and try to lock down terms to that only they can sell things in that market. If some company tried to trademark the term "Toyotafizzle" to use in their aftermarket mods of all trucks, not just Toyotas, you can bet your sweet ass Toyota would send them a nasty letter in short order too.
Rule number one: Jobs is always right (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Funny)
Apple won.
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Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd argue that the word "podcast" is already generic -- are there any audio blogs that don't call themselves podcasts?
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Insightful)
(Warning: IANAL)
Another thing to remember: trademark isn't like copyright. Copyright requires no special action for you to initiate: your works are copyrighted to you, unless you sign those rights over to someone else, and copyright notices only serve to notify the people of your right. Trademarks, on the other hand, need to be registered and filed, often in multiple countries if you're a big company. In the US, if you get a trademark and don't defend infringements upon it in court, the courts can hold that your trademark has been invalidated.
So in other words: if Apple doesn't do this, they may risk losing the trademark on the word "iPod." I think you can understand why they'd consider this bad.
Uh - yes [google.com].
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When I first heard the term "podcast" I immediately thought it had something to do with the iPod. I thought it was some thing that iTunes did in in conjunction with an iPod to broadcast music on the internet (or maybe to your stereo). Sure, I eventually learned that this was not the case, but the poitn is that my initial thought associated podcast with the iPod. I wo
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Re:There goes my week! (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:There goes my week! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Informative)
The "inventer" of the word (apparently a Ben Hammersley, not Adam Curry, but... meh) actually responded to Creative on this point in one of the funniest putting-corporation-in-its-place responses I have seen: Source: here [guardian.co.uk]
(* I am listening to my beloved Zen as I type this, and I don't like or own any Apple goods, so I'm not being a fanboy, I just genuinely think that was a lame thing for Creative to try...)
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Dude, if Apple were to destroy Coffe Pod, you should thank them. Have you ever had pod coffee? It is nasty.
Re:There goes my week! (Score:4, Insightful)
For a contrast, look at what happened to Xerox. They once had a commanding lead in photocopies, so much that their name nearly became verbed. They no longer suffer that threat, thanks to their efforts to protect their trademark. But neither do they have their commanding lead any more.
Hmm, looks like someone else [seomoz.org] wondered about this before I did.
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Informative)
To sum up for those that can't be bothered: Apple owns the trademarks "IPOD" and "POD". These people filed a trademark application which incorporates those existing trademarks in their proposed trademarks. Apple would like them to withdraw the application. It's all part of the process. No harm, no foul. That's why you don't instantly get trademarks -- they go through this sort of review and examination process.
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Tide
Crest
Dove
Dawn
these don't bother you?
2001 redux (Score:4, Funny)
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. Steve Jobs won't let me."
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What, did you miss all the other Apple lawsuits? Or was this the one that finally put you over the edge?
Or is this an old chestnut you pull out when you want to show people you're 'voting with your wallet'?
You really could not have been serious about buying a Mac, if this throws you.
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I'm not so sure, I think Al Gore said he would go after companies that use the term he invented...
Re:There goes my week! (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of portapotty [wikipedia.org].
Hmm. How about "portapoddy"? (-:
About Time (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:About Time (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean we had cassette players in the 70s and 80s that were portable. We called what was on them "recordings."
Why is this so hard?
Podcasting is a term used by retards who think they invented something new. OMG A PORTABLE COPY OF SOMEONES NOISE HOLE!!!!
Tom
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Or
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I mean we had cassette players in the 70s and 80s that were portable. We called what was on them "recordings."
And this is a bit offtopic, but the same really goes for "blog." Most blogs are opinion pieces, essays, meditations, etc. Why couldn't they just be called what they are? Did we have to make up a name for them?
I think this is part of a general trend where one generation or group tries to separate itself from the previous generation or other groups via their "lingo." The current tech-trendy gene
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The problem is they advertise this stuff in newspeak so that the kids don't realize that we had the same toys a decade or two before. As if all of a sudden wireless voice comm is something new, or chatting on a computer, or saving an audio recording for later, even to listen to it portably...
I fear for kids, honestly, they're growing up without the slightest connection to the their past.
Tom
How about "Subscription" ?!?! (Score:2, Insightful)
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Actually, a podcast is just RSS feed + audio file. The support for chapters and chapter art with hyperlinks is only available in the AAC format.
As always, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It may be available in other formats, but I haven't personally seen it in anything other than AAC... definitely not in MP3.
Not to be outdone... (Score:5, Funny)
OK, I'll bite (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd be happy to oblige...
Sony, in fact, HAS vigourously defended [wired.com] its "walkman" trademark right from the beginning (right from the beginning, not "a couple of decades late"--I remember when Sony went after a Canadian electronics store for advertising a sale on "personal stereos" made by Sony's competitors as a "Walkman Sale" back in the mid 1980s). Sony is amongst the most agressive defenders of trademark in the world, and unfortunately it seems Apple is following in its footsteps and threatening a world of hurt for anyone naming their handheld products
I understand why Apple defends their industrial designs as they are tangible characteristics of Apple products and a lot of time, effort and money is put into the look, shape and usability features. It seems really unfair that Apple should spend so much time making a Mac look like a Mac just to have some goofily-named Taiwanese plastics company barf out replica cases jury-rigged to accomodate generic PC motherboards. But claiming ownership of the word "pod" or the 9th letter of the alphabet? That is just petty and greedy. Compete on the merits of your product, not on some silly brand name, and let the fledgling market for accessories to your products thrive. Sure brand dilution is a valid concern, but lets be realistic--Xerox is still around even as its coporate marque bacame a noun and verb in the dictionary. Kimberly-clark continues to make a lot of money with Kleenex even though everyone calls all sorts of other tissues Kleenex out of habit and Google continues to thrive even as its identity has come to mean "search the internet" in general.
Sometimes a little brand dilution can be a good thing. Yes, I understand Apple wants to make sure some cheap-ass purveyor of junky accessories doesn't pretend to be affiliated with Apple but there are other approaches to take. For example licensing terms could be kept relaxed and Apple could have a little "Apple approved" logo for 3rd party manufacturers (like "intel inside" or the "VHS logo" or "Designed for Windows"). Consumers would then know it was a 3rd party product but that it met Apple's quality standards...and forget about fighting the junky stuff unless they fraudulently use the "Apple approved" logo. Done right this can work quite well--it helped VHS beat Beta for example. Let "Podcasting" and "iThingy" and "PodPouch" and whatever other pod-wannabes and i-philes survive and thrive.
In the abcense of common sense though, let me propose an alternative to the word "podcasting". "Audcasting" and "vidcasting" are even dumber sounding and limiting (it implies only moving video or sound, not a combination of media). "Zunecasting" just helps Microsoft marketing and MS needs none of our help there. So, how about PEERCASTING. The term BROADCASTING covers all sorts of media distributed from one central point to widespread areas simultaneously, so PEERCASTING would be an apt description of what we call podcasting now--distribution of media from one point to other, individual points on-demand. Peercastig is already used by a few people to refer to distribution via BitTorrent or other P2P networks and podcasting isn't THAT far off in overall concept.
Good luck apple. (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, is the management at apple losing their grip? they should have told the legal department to back off on things that benefit them heavily.
CBS is using "netcasts" now (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.cbs.com/netcast/ [cbs.com]
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Fishermen are consulting with their lawyers.
Again with the fight against neologisms... (Score:2, Insightful)
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Not the same. (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple didn't originate the term "podcast" in the context of downloaded radio programs. Here they are going after a company using it in that context... but ALSO using another term (myPodder) that's a clear infringment of the trademarks Apple has claimed.
It's not at all clear that Apple is claiming the term "podcast", and if they did they wouldn't have as nearly as strong a position as Google.
Pod nazis? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's crap like this that would make me buy a Zen and call it my "F!Pod".
-Rick
Cheese w/your whine? (Score:2, Troll)
Jeeeshh!!
First you bitch about the baby, now you bitch 'cause we're not married! What's it gonna take to shut you the hell up...?
So? (Score:3, Insightful)
Moderation: -1, Apple Fan-Boi
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Complaint is about "mypodder", not podcasting (Score:2, Informative)
They aren't complaining about podcasting, they just don't want a company that's called "mypodder", since that'd be alarmingly close to iPod according to them. Podcasting is okay. They even state
Couldn't resist.... (Score:2)
Devil's Advocate (Score:3, Insightful)
SiO2
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However, I don't think podcast is an actual apple trademark, so I'm not too sure if one can treat this case like the Google's case.
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I think your reality check bounced.
Letest News: Feds confiscate Anakin's Podracer (Score:4, Funny)
Short-sighted. (Score:2)
I guess they're worried about "iPod" becoming a generic term — if I could demonstrate that "pod" just meant "audio file" or "MP3 player", I might also be able to argue that just adding a lower-case i to the beginning of the word doesn't really make it a distinguishing mark.
But the widespread use of the (clearly generic) term "podcast" gets Apple's iPod brand plenty of credibility and exposure. By moving against a potential threat, they risk stifling a guaranteed benefit.
Ummm...no they're not. Read the Cease and Desist (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ummm...no they're not. Read the Cease and Desis (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, they have to defend it. IANAL, but I think you have to enforce your trademarks in this manner, otherwise you might risk loosing them.
You're right (Score:3, Insightful)
But some problem could be that /. has a funny understanding of editing. Here's my original submission:
While news are out that Apple wants to stop companies [zdnet.com] from using terms like "podcast" or "pod", Wired has the complete text [wired.com] of Apple's cease-and-desist letter to Podcast Ready. Obviously Apple is under the delusion that people call their iPods not, well "iPod",but instead just "Pod". I suggest all /.ers write a nice and
Xerox... Kleenex.... iPod? (Score:4, Interesting)
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So, largely Apple-thetic, then?
Which Apple? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is Apple actually going after "Podcast"? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not clear to me that they have a policy of going after people who use the term "Podcast" in business. The other term, "myPodder", is clearly the kind of thing that Apple has gone after in the past. Without that, would Apple's lawyers have acted? This could simply be an attack lawyer going overboard.
in other news... (Score:2)
Dear nice Americans... (Score:2, Funny)
Where I'm from (Score:2)
Way to kick everyone in the crotch, Apple.
The only bright side to this that I can see is MAYBE George Lucas will get sued for the term "pod racing" and all known copies of Episode I will be forced to undergo re-editing to bring the film in line with his true original vision.
Leo Laporte votes for "netcast" (Score:4, Informative)
Leo Laporte is also floating the idea of switching the term to "netcast". [www.twit.tv] Bonus advantage: helps clue people in that they don't need an iPod to listen to a "podcast" (which understandably is a common misunderstanding by those who hear the term for the first time).
Doubtful (Score:2)
Yeah right. You wouldn't have thought Apple would be doing this either till now...
Why not (Score:2, Interesting)
At the risk of sounding like an idiot (Score:2)
Not Clear Cut (Score:2)
First off, Apple is too legally aggressive in my opinion, so this is not a defense of the company in general. However, my non-lawyer understanding here is that they may be at risk of trademark dillusion if they don't go after this kind of thing. It isn't clear cut, and different judges will rule differently, so they're erring on the side of caution. This may just be a legally prudent action to keep their trademark.
Of course, if
They can't have it both ways (Score:2)
However logic rarely seems to be too involved with legal cases, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
3. Profit! (Score:3, Funny)
"Microsoft goes after people having windows in their apartments, Sun sues people that sell and drink, or talk about java."
"Google sues all massively big numbers with typos. Suggests people use smaller numbers."
"AOL sues all Americans that are On-Line, tells people to pick: either be on-line abroad, or be Americans."
"After Adobe went after people using 'Flash' based trademarks
"News Corp. sues all news media, newspapers and news bulletins in the world."
"Companies using dictionary word based trademarks go after dictionaries including their trademarks."
"Practises in trademark law threaten the Universe to collapse from a massive lapse of logic. Won't happen because Apple is suing the Universe for making use of 'Logic', a company trademark they own."
'Pod' not 'Podcasting' (Score:2)
From the letter:
I'm an Apple kid. I grew up on Macs. I own an iPod or two. I'm not necessarily defending Apple in their aggressive attack on everything 'pod' ('ipod' I can understand...). However, it looks as though they're
Give it up, Apple... (Score:2)
It's so sad to see such a big successful company act so childish.
I brings a tear to my eye, that I'll have to wipe off with a kleenex, using the same hand that has a band-aid on it from a cut that I got while accidentally breaking a glass that I tried to pour some coke into. I broke the glass because I stumbled on my gimpy foot that's wrapped up in an ace bandage.
Well, I'm done with this story, so now I'll go googling for some travel ideas for my vacation that I will probably priceline the tickets on. After
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ace? priceline? e-mail? spam? are these supposed to be trademarks that have become generic? was glass supposed to be one (you said it enough times)?
Bored lawyers seeking a way to stay relevant (Score:2)
"I dunno Mr. Pettifogger, how about we find something to annoy all those Apple iPod fanboys?"
"Might be hard Mr. Shyster...the RIAA already has a lock on the easy stuff."
"Ooo! Ooo! I know! We'll sue the podcasters for IP infringment and copyright hijacking! That'll do it!"
"Brilliant Mr. Shyster! Simply *brilliant*! Who says we have skulls filled with mush?"
"Aye! We're thinking like lawyers now!"
Change the spelling (Score:2)
POD is an abbreviation for..... (Score:2)
Ah. It all fits now - the iPod is a tool of the devil.
Summary is WRONG (Score:5, Informative)
Apple is asking the company to stop using the term "MyPodder". They explicitly state they are not asking them to stop using their company name "Podcast Ready" (see the bottom of the second-to-last paragraph, page two).
Is it too much to ask that the editors read the actual story before approving it?
"podcasting" (Score:2)
RTFA extract (Score:5, Informative)
RTF headline
Why can't submitters at least RTFS&DL.
asscast (Score:2)
They're not going after the term podcast (Score:5, Informative)
Apple is not objecting to use of Podcast (Score:5, Informative)
-S
Just a few definitions... (Score:3, Informative)
* the dryish fruit of some plants, contains one to many seeds and usually flattened
* a group of whales.
* Developed ovary or fruit.
* with animals such as whales, dolphins, or porpoises, the term describes a family or social group that stays together; roughly equivalent to a flock or school.
We went through this with Windows. Just because Microsoft was stupid enough to name an OS after a commonly used word doesn't mean we all have to stop using that word. We routinely continue to use the word with respect to a clear piece of hardware on the exterior of our dwellings, and we even talk of "windows" in a generic sense as user interfaces elements.
Why Apple chose the word "pod" I don't know, but I'm sure that the world's podiatrists aren't about to desecrate their diplomas and substitute "foot doctor".
This move can only be bad for Apple, and the timing couldn't be better for Microsoft for us to pick another word that doesn't remind us of the device that got detachable music devices into almost every American household (even thought they were far from being the first such device).
This is the sort of thing, common in Apple's history, where 10 year hence hindsight will have them saying "What were we thinking?!"
Apparently, they never learn.
DUMB (Score:3, Funny)
Actually, let's uses acast and vcast.
On second thought, a and v...
[does hand gestures to indicate audiocast and videocast]
Hyperbole . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Everybody needs to step away from the keyboard and think things through before they start stammering about how an evil corporation is trying to trademark and deny use of commonly used words. A Trademark is a relationship between the consumer and the company that represents the goodwill fostered by the company. A consumer should expect that an item with a given trademark will be what they expect, and not some two-bit knockoff.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting [wikipedia.org]
[2]: http://www.podcast.net/ [podcast.net]
READ THIS BEFORE POSTING (Score:3, Informative)
You didn't read the fucking letter. You didn't even read the comments RIGHT HERE that point out Apple is NOT going after "podcast". They have 'no general objection to proper use of the descriptive term "podcast" as part of a trademark for goods and services offered in the podcasting field'. It's right there in the letter. Can't you people read?
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Football Anyone? (Score:2)
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Apple didn't come up with this word, so what the hell are they playing at?
Sigh. Podcast is obviously derived from iPod. Apple is cool with that. Go ahead and call it Podcasting. The problem is when some company decided to trademark "Podcast ready" which includes the derivative term from iPod. I think any company would be more than a little worried about such a thing. In fact, it might lead to their losing their trademark on the term iPod and then Microsoft and Sony could release their own products called