“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has denied Apple’s bid to trademark the term ‘iPad Mini,’ contending that ‘mini’ is ‘merely descriptive’ of goods or services sold in miniature form,” Steven Musil reports for CNET.
“In a letter sent to Apple in January but only recently published, the USPTO reviewer denied Apple’s application because ‘the applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant’s goods,'” Musil reports. “Apple can appeal the decision, but to win a reversal the company will need to address the office’s reasons for denial.”
Musil reports, “The reviewer also found evidence from the Internet showing that widespread use of the term ‘mini’ to describe the small size of various handheld digital devices, and that ‘the wording merely describes a feature of applicant’s goods, namely, a small sized handheld tablet computer.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “The USPTO reviewer denied Apple’s application because ‘the applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant’s goods.'”
During his/her big Internet search, did this JUCO dropout, er… USPTO reviewer also come across any registered trademarks the USPTO has granted in the past, including: iPod touch®, iPod nano®, and/or iPod shuffle®?
