Fujitsu Readies Lawsuit Over "iPad" Name 367
gyrogeerloose writes "In an event eerily reminiscent of Cisco's suit over Apple's use of the 'iPhone' name, Japanese firm Fujitsu is consulting its attorneys in preparation for going to court over Apple's use of 'iPad' for its latest computing device. Quoted in a New York Times story, Masahiro Yamane, director of Fujitsu's public relations division, said 'It's our understanding that the name is ours.' Fujitsu's application to trademark the iPad name stalled because of an earlier filing by another company and the US Patent and Trademark Office listed Fujitsu's application as abandoned in early 2009, but the company revived its application in June. Apple, which has applied for an international trademark on 'iPad' through a proxy company, has filed a number of requests with the US Patent Office for more time to oppose Fujitsu's application."
Am I the only one? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Am I the only one? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:welp (Score:4, Interesting)
Ipad as a name is about as bad as it can get for apple, due to all the jokes and the SNL skit. Is itablet also trademarked?
It's actually a MAD TV Skit [youtube.com]
...And a fine example of how dreadfully unfunny Mad TV was, too. Still, they get bonus points for the fact that Apple used the name.
Re:iFlatThingWithoutAKeyboard (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:iPadMax (Score:3, Interesting)
iPad is a great name.
But we don't have to debate it... in two years we'll know for sure. I think that everyone will have forgotten all about sanitary napkins reference by then.
Even if you remember the whole iPad/Maxi-Pad thing, when you bring it up everyone around you will tell you how you're getting old.
Two years is an awfully long time, nowadays.
Re:Am I the only one? (Score:3, Interesting)
On Lawsuits (Score:2, Interesting)
You can always tell a company's relevance by the lawsuits they file.
There's this one.
Microsoft vs TomTom over FAT
Apple vs Microsoft over the use of a GUI. Not their finest moment, foretold years of problems for Apple.
I could go on, but slashdot readers know the score.
Re:welp (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:iWhale maybe? (Score:3, Interesting)
iMoby - and I'm half serious about that suggestion..
http://www.computer-dictionary-online.org/moby.htm?q=moby [computer-d...online.org]
Would probably be too hard to grok for the plebs, though
Re:welp (Score:3, Interesting)
What Apple does very well - beside fleecing the masses of their hard earned money - is enabling artists and programmers to create content. That content is what feeds the need for every new generation of Apple hardware.
Re:welp (Score:3, Interesting)
Ipad as a name is about as bad as it can get for apple, due to all the jokes and the SNL skit. Is itablet also trademarked?
If you think about it, people said the same thing about the Wii, but the extra publicity only helped out Nintendo.
Re:Double trademark trolls! (Score:3, Interesting)
If they use such a trivial and obvious naming scheme, that's their own fault.
And this is a good thing for trademarks to work this way. We allow existing words, and trivial variations of them, to be trademarks, but it is good to have a deterrent against companies doing this in such a broad and systematic matter.
A tech-savy luddite (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm a software engineer with a CS degree and a head full of geeky science trivia. My adult kids think I'm a bit of a paradox, a tech-savy luddite one might say.
Re:Double trademark trolls! (Score:2, Interesting)
The use of 'Apple' by Apple Computer was first challenged as trademark infringement by the Beatles 'Apple Corps' back in 1978.
They finally allowed Apple Computer to use it for a cash payoff and a promise that Apple Computer would never get into the music distribution business... something that Apple Computer has never...DOH!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer [wikipedia.org]