“Fujitsu, which applied for an iPad trademark in 2003, is claiming first dibs, setting up a fight with Apple over the name of the new tablet device that Apple plans to sell starting in March,” Hiroko Tabuchi reports for The new York Times. “‘It’s our understanding that the name is ours,’ Masahiro Yamane, director of Fujitsu’s public relations division, said Thursday. He said Fujitsu was aware of Apple’s plans to sell the iPad tablet and that the company was consulting lawyers over next steps.”
“Fujitsu’s iPad, which runs on Microsoft’s CE.NET operating system, has a 3.5-inch color touchscreen, an Intel processor and Wi-fi and Bluetooth connections; it also supports VoIP telephone calls over the Internet, a technology also used by Skype,” Tabuchi reports. “The iPads from Fujitsu can sell for more than US$2,000.”
MacDailyNews Take: We purposely didn’t embed the photo of the thing in this article, because it looks exactly as you’d imagine the spawn of Fujitsu and Microsoft would look. Picture it in your mind and then click to see for yourself. Eerie, huh?
Tabuchi continues, “Fujitsu’s application to trademark the iPad name stalled because of an earlier filing by Mag-Tech, an information technology security company based Seal Beach, California, for a handheld number-encrypting device. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office listed Fujitsu’s application as abandoned in early 2009, but the company revived its application in June.”
“The following month, Apple used a proxy to apply for an international trademark for the iPad. It has since filed a string of requests with the U.S. Patent Office for more time to oppose Fujitsu’s application,” Tabuchi reports. “Apple has until Feb. 28 to say whether it will oppose Fujitsu’s claims to the iPad name.”
Tabuchi reports, “While the dispute between Fujitsu and Apple centers on the United States, there are other iPads around the world. The German conglomerate Siemens uses the name for engines and motors, while a Canadian lingerie company, Coconut Grove Pads, has the right to market iPad padded bras.”
Full article here.
Earlier this month, MacNN reported, “Apple is actively working to take the American ‘iPad’ trademark away from Fujitsu, unearthed documents show. It was recently discovered that Apple is filing for the iPad name in Canada, Europe and Hong Kong, but that because of Fujitsu, the company cannot do so in the US. The Fujitsu iPAD is already a tangible product, a handheld device used by retail workers.”
Although Fujitsu first filed for the iPad name in March 2003, the trademark has still not been assigned,” MacNN reported. “Apple now has until February 28th to make its submissions. The delays may be strategic, as the company could be in a better legal position if it announces or launches an iPad product before filing an appeal.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “I don’t love the name. I would have gone with ‘iTouch’ if only to teach a lesson to everyone who’s ever incorrectly referred to an iPod touch by that name. It would have been fun to say, ‘Go back and revise those 3.27 million articles where you wrongly used ‘iTouch,’ m’kay?’ Oh, well, a missed opportunity. Instead, we lucky iPad owners will get to endure feminine napkin comments from jealous anti-Apple ignoramuses and sixth grade boys.” – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, January 27, 2010
How about
Newton IV
Seeing as how there has already been a Newton 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
@DX
I hear ya…I looked at that spacing and thought the same thing…but I’m used to the iphone…
and honestly when I add a new icon and move it around it takes some time to find an app I want to run…( I have quite a few)…
so..on an App based system like this…imagine on a bigger screen having 24 icons per screen…or 30…you’d get sick of constantly doing a visual search pretty quickly. With a lot of apps the spacing starts to make more sense…plus it’s easier to move them from screen to screen
I like Canvas, or just going back to iBook — but they used that for the eBook reader program, which is cool
Add a D at the end and give a nod to Star Trek TNG if that doesn’t cause any problems. There’s was called the PADD.
Apple OWNS pretty much iAnything pretty basic copyright issue…
iPad makes sense – iPod, iPhone and iPad. All iP
MW – district – as in it will end up in a higher court than that
I still like MacBook touch.
How many iPads did Fujitsu sell over the years? 100? 1,000? If Apple gives them $1 each to use the contested name, Fujitsu would make more than they ever did selling the hand full of Fujitsu iPads. Has anyone ever seen a Fujitsu iPad? Did they ever make money on or even sell the iPad?
okay, you got me…
I want to the see the Coconut Grove iPad padded bras !!!
Fine for me. I don’t care for the iPad name anyway. A reporter on NPR’s ATC yesterday suggested there must not have been many women in the room when they came up with the name. Recall that the iTV was renamed Apple TV when it finally shipped, so names can change.
Personally, I like iPod Slate – sort of a big brother to the iPod touch. Can’t call it the Mac Slate because, well, it’s not a Mac.
As to those others using the name, trademark contention usually arises only when there’s a likelihood of consumer confusion. Microsoft deliberately called their first PDA the Palm PC to confuse it with the *real* Palm PDA and thus had to change it. But there’s no confusion between Apple’s offering with Siemens’ motors or Coconut Grove’s bras.
Sounds like publicity stunt, Apple owns iSlate and has options, no?
actually how about dropping the “i” altogether – we’re getting sick of it, then its just the Apple Pad, how simple would that be?
Back in 1999 we thinking of using iPad for a remote control but got warned not the mess with anything “i” as the first letter. It would be difficult to defend it in court without saying: “Well yes, after Apple started using it, we thought it would bring us free publicity and a golden halo around our heads”.
That was so much more crapulous than I imagined…
Is Fujitsu that drear?
Is it just me or has nobody thought of iTab? I’ve never heard that kicked around.
Is there something obvious that is using it? Sounds better than iPad…
The i product naming convention is getting tired. TouchPad would have been OK as would MacTablet.
Although iPod and IPad are neat and now imply diminutive and superior size character.
I like the “i” + (Random Noun) branding strategy. It’s simply, immediately identifiable as being of or associated with Apple, and it has literally infinite possibilities.
As for the word “pad”, get over it people. If we got used to Google, Firefox, Yahoo and Wii, we can get over iPad. I’m sure all of the childish morons bashing this name have managed to say the word “notepad” thousands of times in their lives with giggling.
“…a Canadian lingerie company, Coconut Grove Pads, has the right to market iPad padded bras.”
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Prior to the iPads unveiling I’d heard that Apple’s new tablet was suppose to have some new kind of sexiness to it. Didn’t think it meant that though.
MDN,
That was hideously ugly (the device photo), but you did warn me.
iPal.
iBook Touch.
Maybe Apple wants everybody to all come over to iPad.
I like iTouch… 10″
I like iTouch but it is hardly disconnected with banal toilet humour is it.
I think the lure of iPad is that it is only one letter removed from iPod. Doesn’t make it a great name but I can see where their minds were.
I for one am disappointed because it is just an overgrown ipod touch. Perhaps touch+ would be better?