“Apple Computer Inc., maker of iPod digital-music players and Macintosh computers, was sued by Tiger Direct Inc. for allegedly infringing its trademark with the new ‘Tiger’ Mac software package scheduled for release tomorrow. ‘Apple Computer has created and launched a nationwide media blitz led by Steven Jobs, overwhelming the computer world with a sea of Tiger references,’ Tiger Direct’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit,” Bloomberg News reports.
Full article here.
AppleInsider reports, “At the root of the issue appears to internet search results. Tiger Direct contends that Apple’s use of the name has adversely affected its ranking amongst the Internet’s largest search engines, Google and Yahoo, bumping the company from its usual spot in the first three results. If the court grants Tiger Direct’s request for an injunction, Apple’s rollout of Tiger could be stopped.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple first officially announced the use of the name “Tiger” for Mac OS X 10.4 in a press release on May 4, 2004. AppleInsider reports that the lawsuit was filed today in federal court in Miami.
In somewhat related news, the University of Texas today sued Microsoft for turning the name “Longhorn” into a laughingstock. Now, that would actually make some sense.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Tiger Direct issues press release regarding lawsuit against Apple over ‘Tiger’ name – April 28, 2005
The world is going to hell
You got to be kidding…..Lawyers……… ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”vampire” style=”border:0;” />
WTF
Gee, why not wait until the last minute? They’ve only had a year to figure this one out.
FSCK YOU Tiger (mis)direct INC.
Magic word “Bring” as in BRING IT Beeoch!
No confusion here. Most who know TigerDirect is merely a computer supply warehouse won’t be confused. “TigerDirect” is their trademark. I think this company is simply trying to latch onto the publicity MacOS X “Tiger” is generating. Some lawyers just want to get paid. That’s all.
This injunction will only prolong the publicity, and distract the search engines away from Tiger Direct for even longer…
get calling their switchboard and tell em what u think of them.. I have already…..
I live in Miami. Is picketing fun?
Tiger Direct waits till now to bring on a lawsuit? Hmmm… something smells really fishy around here!
Absolutely disgusting and shameful.
MW: “Children”. Go figure.
I’m not sure what they’re talking about…I just did a search for Tiger direct in Yahoo and Google. First page search results were nothing but Tigerdirect.com links for computer merchandise…
No confusion here?
Don’t really know what kind of yarn/tale the lawyers spinning…must be a M.S. plant?
When I searched google for “tiger”, Tiger direct was still in the 2nd space, ahead of Mac OS Tiger. Publicity obviously.
Not going to hold water. An extortion attempt.
Morons.
TigerDirect.Com Corporate Offices
(305) 415-2200
7795 W Flagler St
Miami, FL 33144
I am a Bengal Tiger and no one can find my homepage because of Apple, me and my family are going to sue.
Ah yes, a Wintel reseller maybe? Smells a Microfuck coup…
What a bunch of losers. Internet search rankings???
Maybe I’ll name a company called JessicaSimpson Direct, and then sue Jessica Simpson because my company isn’t at the top of the search engine list.
Grow up, TigerDirect!
The courts will throw this frivolous suit out on its ass . . . primarily because TigerDirect has a responsibility to object to Apple’s so-called infringement immediately upon discovery thereof. That would be in May of last year, which, obviously, did not happen. They have not been diligent in mitigating the alleged “damages” here, so they will lose their suit with prejudice.
Also, unless Apple has somehow stepped on TD’s graphics and trademark packaging, they have committed no crime by employing a recognized, traditionally spelled word from the English language. No one, NO ONE owns the word “Tiger.” Its graphic embedding, perhaps, but not the word itself!
Screw TigerDirect and the paws they walked in on!
Funny, when I google “Tiger”, TigerDirect comes up second, just behind 5Tigers, a conservation organisation. Apple OS X is a couple of places lower down. Will Tiger Direct also sue the US Census Bureau to stop their use of the term “Tiger Map Server”. Or Tiger Airlines? Or Tiger Woods?
Just a bunch of publicity hungry wankers. It’s going to be hard to stop the launch; pre-orders are already in the mail.
“Smells a Microfuck coup…”
It wouldn’t surprise me. MS is more than a little scared of Tiger. When your biggest cheerleader writes things like: “Longhorn is in complete disarray and in danger of collapsing under its own weight” and others write: “Windows is weak, Longhorn will be cosmetic upgrade; Apple can deliver killer blow to Microsoft”. You’re going to do anything you can to stop it.
It’s too late Microsoft.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4052227&p1=0
“…If that’s so, then why is the Mac market share, even after Apple’s recent revival, sputtering at a measly 5 percent? Jobs has a theory about that, too. Once a company devises a great product, he says, it has a monopoly in that realm, and concentrates less on innovation than protecting its turf. “The Mac-user interface was a 10-year monopoly,” says Jobs. “Who ended up running the company? Sales guys. At the critical juncture in the late ’80s, when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits. They made obscene profits for several years. And their products became mediocre. And then their monopoly ended with Windows 95. They behaved like a monopoly, and it came back to bite them, which always happens. A wicked smile cracks the bearded, crinkly Steve Jobs’s visage, and for a moment he could be the playful upstart who shocked the world 20 years ago. ‘Hmm, look who’s running Microsoft now,’ he says, referring to former Procter & Gamble marketer Steve Ballmer. ‘A sales guy!’ The smile gets broader. ‘I wonder …’ he says.”
Steve gets it…(most) Mac users get it…the press is (finally) getting it.
It’s all a matter of time ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
Don’t they know that when they try to mess with Apple they also mess with us. I bet their operator circuit board and website overload. Bunch of idjits.
You guys are fucking idiots.
Tiger Direct Sells apple products. They get what thye deserve..Crappled Bitches
Disgusting! TigerDirect sucks. Now they get some promo for free. Guys … pay Apple some money!
My copy arrived today…so the rollout has already begun.