Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: This must be news to many, as we see an awful lot of analysts, media outlets, and even Microsoft themselves using Apple’s Multi-Touch™ trademark (United States Patent and Trademark Office, Serial Number: 77219819) to describe Microsoft’s recent demo of their latest derivative and highly-vaporous OS, “Windows 7.”
So, Microsoft, PC Magazine, PC World et al., just so you know, Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.
And don’t you forget it. 
Off to the races. It is CopyCat versus BigCat. May the bigger cat win.
Multi-Touch is the Apple name for multi-touch technology. It cans till be called multi-touch, thats just the general name given to it.
Microshaft has a way of ignoring patents, copyrights, monopoly laws, and any other legalese that says they can’t do something. They throw an army of lawyers at you and stall until you run out of money. I don’t think they’ll be bothered by the fact that Apple owns the name Multi-Touch, or even that they have a patent on the technology.
I am sure the innovation wizards at Microsoft will come up with their own creative alternative name like: Many-touch
Wikipedia: “A registered trademark confers a bundle of exclusive rights upon the registered owner, including the right to exclusive use of the mark in relation to the products or services for which it is registered. The law in most jurisdictions also allows the owner of a registered trademark to prevent unauthorized use of the mark in relation to products or services which are identical or “colourfully” similar to the “registered” products or services, and in certain cases, prevent use in relation to entirely dissimilar products or services.”
Mikrocrap will just use the longer name like “Multiple-Touch Technology” or like 84 Mac Guy said “Many-Touch Technology”
However, I think it would behoove Microsoft to just trademark the name “Copied-Touch” and use it.
People are free to misuse trademarks all they want, no matter how many angry letters a company sends. It’s only illegal to brand a product you’re selling with someone else’s trademark.
Print out this email and xerox it.
Yes.
Microsoft’s trademark is Multi-Asswipe™
REALTORben, Multiple-Touch Technology – Live
which oddly is the Magic word
I vote that MS’s new touch name be “Fingering Touch”
Hmmm, yeah that’s it.
Microsoft Windows 7- featuring Lotsa-Fingers-Moving-At-The-Same-Time-Touch™.
or multi-fumble, multi-miss, multi-poke, ham-fisted-touch, club-fingered-gestures,
Microsoft will call it Moldy-Touch.
@ Evil Twin
Let me guess which finger!
or Multi-Crap™
my thoughts: MS will call it “Gesture” or “Handy”… ooh, I better stop, they’re not paying me for this!
MS: “Oops, we meant monkey-touch and, we’ve applied for trademark protection!”
@maybe
LOL.. yeah thats exactly what it should be called.
ahhhhh bite me apple ! at least it’s not called iTouch or some stupid “i” branding. oh well microsoft will just call it windows touch
Once, Apple made a remarkable OS based on “windows”. Microsoft copied it and named it “Windows”. Recently apple made a new interface interaction called Multi-touch™. Microsoft will copy it, sooner or later, and will call it “Touches”
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I was wondering about that… I could’ve sworn I saw an article a while back saying that Apple had trademarked it.
Finger Squirt
˙©2008 Microsoft
Beautiful, MDN!
I love how, without even writing it, this article so clearly states: “Apple leads. Microsoft follows. As Usual.”
The commentator at a demo can say almost anything she wants. The trademark just means when MS is shipping that box of Windows 7, they can’t use the words “multi-touch” on the side.
That’s a long way away, and a lot of “ifs” before we have to worry about it. It would be cool if MS *did* try to use the term though. Nothing funnier than a court order freezing the release of Windows 7 on the day it debuts. 😀
MS Big Ass Table featuring Multi-Tush™.
Microsoft will no doubt call it “Intelli-Touch” to go along with all of its other lamely named “Intelli-” products.
“I vote that MS’s new touch name be ‘Fingering Touch'”
What do you want to probe today?
Lots O’ Touches
Imagine the new Zune with Multi-Squirt™…
In deference to the soon-to-be-retired (to peddle his particular brand of evil in the pharmaceutical world) William H Gates jnr I suggest it be called……….
TouchBob™
That should go down really well with some of the clients of Preston, Gates & Ellis.
Abramoff actually went to jail – who were the players that managed to put such a big stooge forward?
Billy Goat gonna get sued hefty for his continuing bald stealing.
If he couldn’t rip off Apple he’d have no purpose in life and no ideas. He would cease to exist.
And the lemmings would be spared horrible time-wasting cheap fake pale broken imitations of the Mac.
Lost touch
handy wipes
many points of contact clicking and dragging thingy
by MS
More grist for the mill. Can you imagine the upcoming Mac vs PC commercial?
PC character as a foppish bank robber.
Multi-squirt.
Soarry, I cooldn’t ‘a’ hepp mysyelf.
“handy wipes”
So, it’s just a smear campaign?
maybe they’ll just call it a “recycle bin”
They will name it Microsoft Windows Live Multiple Fingers Gestures In A Big Table.
So, Microsoft, PC Magazine, PC World et al., just so you know, Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.
MS’s attempt will be called “Me-Too”.
It’d be a fitting followup to their pathetic “Look we’re cool too!” Windows 7 demo.
Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.
1. A patent or trademark is only as good as the lawyer defending it.
2. When was the last time MS respected anyone’s intellectual property?
Gates or Ballmer trying to be cool is like listening to Karl Rove rap or Colin Powell putting on a hardhat and singing “YMCA” by the Village People.
…or Michael Jackson, in a ten gallon hat & pink tights, singing “Wichita Lineman”.
(makes beeline to porcelain goddess….)
I don’t care what they call it I just want Apple to sue the hell out of M$ (and anyone else come to think of it) who tries to implement multi-touch.
Apple must have surely got this one locked down. Problem is that in the electonic industry it can take years to get a patent enforced properly by which time the technology is obsolete or superseded by something else.
Weird all the way around. I mean how many times does Kara say iPhone? This is so blatant it seems ridiculous. Apple should sue them just for the publicity to show MSFT just poaches innovation.
What’s even worse is that they always do half-ass barely workable copies. Watch the “multi-touch” carefully in the demo. She starts drawing with one finger and it cuts out – it DOESN’T EVEN WORK RIGHT IN THE DEMO!
But… but… but… Microsoft’s technology will for the first time facilitate the creation of fine art on a computer platform:
:lol”
Let’s be clear – once someone owns a trademark, you ARE NOT free to use it. Multi-touch is Apple’s trademark. Microsoft, MDN, me, or anyone else does NOT have the right to use Multi-Touch without Apple’s permission or without properly crediting Apple.
Have you noticed how people and companies can not use the name “Super Bowl” in their advertising, giveaways, etc.? That’s because they didn’t receiver permission from the NFL, the holder of the “Super Bowl” trademark, to use the name. Thus, they must call it something like, “The Really Big Football Game” or something stupid like that in their commercials. Otherwise, the NFL would sue them, and it’s an open and shut case.
Microsoft will re-brand their version of Multi-Touch into some other name. However, what will really be interesting is to see just how far Apple went at patenting the technology which Multi-Touch is based on. Those patents, if awarded, could lock everyone else out of the multi-touch PC/mobile phone user interface.
And @ Spartacus: Apple never patented or trademarked “windows” or virtually anything else with the original Mac OS, which is why Apple lost in court to Microsoft. Apple’s being much smarter this time around. Jobs learned a hard, hard lesson which he is evidently not going to forget.
I think it will just be called “The Finger”: •|•
The current demonstration may involve the touching of fingers or other parts of the human anatomy to the screen BUT the other two implementations, the big-ass table and the big-ass wall-chart, do not work by touch at all. They basically work by the use of infrared ranging and triangulation technology. Because of the poor resolution of infrared devices, the miniaturization possible for real ‘touch’ interfaces is not possible so their implementations are limited to over-sized devices. The BAtable and the BAwall-chart are really amazing in that they have been able to get the results they have with such low resolution solutions.
MS will market either;
Multi-Tuch™
or
Multee-Touch™
Nothing more. Nothing less.
I vote for “Finger Me (Millennium Edition)”.
Anyone second?
@bizlaw
But, you just used the term “Super Bowl”. So are you in violation? When is a coke a Coke®?
Wow looks like a giant iPhone with really bad interfaces and pop-up menus – nice copy
infinito-tap
ever-tap
they will sit in the board room with a thesaurus like they got the name X-Box from Play-Station.
“We can simplify Station can’t we?”
“Yeah, it’s not really a ‘station’ anyway… It’s just a Box.”
“Box works. Shall we vote?”
“What about Play? We want to be able to do more than just play. We want to do everything.”
“Well, then it’s like the unknown box. How about X instead of unknown?”
“X Box it is.”
@anynominous:
I’m not using the term “Super Bowl” for profit, so I didn’t cause any damage. If I’m having a contest to give away Super Bowl tickets as part of promoting my company’s products/services, then I’m in violation of the trademark.
The difference is using someone else’s trademarked property to profit yourself. And before any smart-ass responds, yes, charities are included. Non-profits and not-for-profits actually do make a profit, they just don’t pay it to the owners of the charity (profits are used to provide more of the charitable services, after expenses are met).
Microsoft Wank?
-jcr
“Multi-Tish”
Microsoft® Out of Touch™
CTRL+ALT+DEL = Microsoft Multi-Crapo Touch
Am I too late or has “Touched for Sure” been used?
windows active-touch live ’98
oh… hang on.
the “Dock” will become “Microsoft Windows Resource Management Pier”
Perhaps Apple should rename OS X to Windows 10.5.x! The majority of PC users wouldn’t know the difference anyway, and the higher version number (10.5 vs 7) would accurately reflect the higher quality that Apple’s version has.
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If MS can do it, why can’t Apple?
They ripped the Dock off for Windoze 7 as well.
No Scheiße
In all seriousness, I think MS will stick with the “Surface” branding. That “demo” movie of the B.A.T. was obviously crap, but I think it’s purpose was to establish “Surface” as their multi-touch brand.
Not really that bad of a name, actually.
bad touch
MS will call there version Bob, they already have that TM and it is no longer in use and no one would associate it with any product
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Er…. why does this article (and all of the comments) read as if the above linked APPLICATION FOR A TRADEMARK has actually been granted?
It’s under dispute and has not yet been granted. Let’s all get out the bubbly when the tm is actually issued….
Mike,
Click the first ink supplied by MDN. Here, I’ll help you:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/02/26mbp.html
Scroll to the bottom of Apple’s press release and you’ll see:
“Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, MacBook, Multi-Touch, MacBook Air, iSight, MagSafe, iPhoto, Aperture, Safari, FireWire, SuperDrive, iLife, iMovie, Leopard, Time Machine, Finder, iChat, Apple Store, AppleCare, iWork, Logic and Final Cut are trademarks of Apple.“
I made the salient parts bold for you.
Some lite reading for yall, http://www.microsoft.com/surface/about.html
As stated ths project started 2001.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/press.html
Some more info talking about Multi-touch and Multi-Gesture.
Some Wiki on history dating Microsoft back to 1984 with this tech.
History
Multi-touch technology dates back to 1982, when the University of Toronto developed the first finger pressure multi-touch display. The same year, Bell Labs and Murray Hill published what is believed to be the first paper discussing touch-screen based interfaces. In 1984 Bell Labs engineered a touch screen that could manipulate images. The same year Microsoft began research in the area. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1991, when Pierre Wellner published a paper on his multi-touch “Digital Desk”, which supported multi-finger and pinching motions (these would later be critical to the development of modern products such as the iPhone). In 1998, Fingerworks, a Newark-based company run by University of Delaware academics John Elias and Wayne Westerman, produced a line of multi-touch products including the iGesture Pad[1]
MULTI-TOUCH is a trademark of Apple Inc
Now kida looks like Appl is floowing Microsoft here.
So what happens if you touch Windows in the wrong place?
Will you get slapped, or will Windows kinda like it?
MS will market either;
Multi-Tuch™
or
Multee-Touch™
Nothing more. Nothing less.
My best is on Windows Smudge™.
Perfect for slimy fingers touching windows…
best, bet
I love you Apple fanatics! You make us Microsoft users lives so much fun! This “article” puts the nail-in-the-coffin for your Multi-Touch debate. Is Microsoft trying to take Multi-Touch for Apple? Of course! Will they succeed? Probably not. I accept that fact. Does Apple own the Multi-Touch trademark and patent? …NO! Did ANY of you click the link to the United States Trademark and Patent Office? Did ANY of you READ what the link states? I’m going to go with a guess of… no.
If ANY of you click the link and READ the page, you’ll see that Apple put in the application for the rights to Multi-Touch. A PRE-final decision was made and Apple was notified. Apple responded and a final date was set for the rights to be given to Apple. By law, the Trademark and Patent Office must give ANYONE sixty ( 60 for you Apple lovers) days to give a written notice of appeal. Microsoft did such actions. The Trademark and Patent Office reviewed Microsoft’s appeal and Apple’s response. The Trademark and Patent decided Microsoft had no reason for the appeal and continued processing the paperwork to give Apple it’s beloved baby.
And here it is Apple fanatics! The moment you’ve been waiting for… it’s still at the Review Attorney’s Office! TADA! Apple STILL does not own full rights to the Multi-Touch name. Thus, none of you have a leg to stand on stating, “Apple owns the rights. Microsoft is stealing and using the name illegally.” Give it a rest Apple lovers. Your beat. Admit defeat. Once again, I’ve proven that you have your facts wrong, misinterpret information, sheepishly follow what your editor writes, who doesn’t know what he’s writing about by the way, and continue to bash Microsoft for something that Microsoft has the LEGAL right to do.
Take care Apple lovers. I hope to hear back from all of you with your attempts to prove your right, even though that in the back of your minds, you know you’ve been beaten once again by a Microsoft user.
Jackal
From the USPTO website:
“Mark
(words only): MULTI-TOUCH
Standard Character claim: Yes
Current Status: Jurisdiction Restored To Examining Attorney
Date of Status: 2008-04-01
Filing Date: 2007-06-30
Transformed into a National Application: No
Registration Date: (DATE NOT AVAILABLE)
Register: Principal
Law Office Assigned: LAW OFFICE 115
If you are the applicant or applicant’s attorney and have questions about this file, please contact the Trademark Assistance Center at TrademarkAssistanceCenter@uspto.gov
Current Location: M6X -TMO Law Office 115 – Examining Attorney Assigned
Date In Location: 2008-04-21
LAST APPLICANT(S)/OWNER(S) OF RECORD
1. Apple Inc.
Address:
Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
United States
Legal Entity Type: Corporation
State or Country of Incorporation: California”
“‘In all seriousness, I think MS will stick with the “Surface” branding. That “demo” movie of the B.A.T. was obviously crap, but I think it’s purpose was to establish “Surface” as their multi-touch brand.’
Not really that bad of a name, actually.” @Randolph,
Yes, but it also brings to mind how the MS design philosophy is really only skin-deep. Everything is about the appearance. They have no concept of how good design is about how something works as well and good principles from the ground up.
The surface design of Apple is just icing on the cake, makes the use of their products fun and productive. MS surface design is all they have, just lipstick on a pig.