“In a decision handed down by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Apple has been denied an application for a trademark on the term Multi-Touch,” Jordan Golson reports for MacRumors. “Apple originally applied for the trademark on January 9, 2007, the day the iPhone was introduced.”
Golson reports, “A lawyer for the USPTO denied Apple’s initial trademark application and the company appealed to the Appeal Board. The board upheld the initial refusal to grant the trademark.”
Read more in the full article here.
Alex Heath reports for Cult of Mac, “Apple wanted to trademark Multi-Touch. Not the name, but the technology itself. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has finally ruled that Multi-Touch has a too much of a generic meaning now, not to mention the fact that nearly every smartphone and tablet on the market uses the technology.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Government logic: If enough thieves rip you off, you forfeit ownership and, oh, have a nice day.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
So, because the market was a fast follower, they can’t trademark it? Strange.
I see your point, but I wouldn’t even call the market a “fast follower.”
Android didn’t illustrate pinch to zoom until late in 2009 and didn’t hit the switch on it until early 2010 in the U.S. That’s several years . . .
Everyone makes so much of Android’s fast market share rise. Well, duh. You’ve got half a dozen multi-national electronics companies that make phones and tablets and don’t have their own OS. And Google gives one away for free. It doesn’t take a genius.
Like most of the rest of you, I am enjoying the real thing and don’t think millions of copy cats (legal or not) are really hurting Apple’s bottom line much.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure this result is the work of the Obama administration and is not supported in law at all.
If Apple didn’t attempt to protect the trademark,or file for the trademark, and let the term become a common term, *then* they could make this claim.,
But under the law, the actual laws that we ostensibly pretend to operate by, Apple’s filing of the term, and attempts to protect the term, make it a trademark.
NOBODY was talking about “multi-touch” before the iPhone was announced. This IS a legitimate trademark, and this ruling proves the trademark office is corrupt.
I can’t wait to apply “government logic” to my and my family’s health care. Yes, I have a death wish (mainly because I’m so mortified that I voted for Obama). I blame equal parts of childlike gullibility and white guilt. No such mistake will be made next November.
Never mind that your post si not relevant to the topic but I would blame your vote for Obama as the smartest thing you have ever done.
What is your problem with health care? What has happened to you negatively since the law has passed? Do you really know the details or are you just going by Fox Garbage channel talking points?
I love how clueless leftists are always saying “You need to know what you’re talking about rather than just spewing Fox Garbage!” — a sure sign that THEY don’t know what they’re talking about and are just spewing what they heard from leftist sites.
Since obamacare passéd, hundreds of thousands have lost access to insurance, because Obamacare criminalized the selling of insurance. While it is a phased implementation, the low cost insurance programs that targeted high school and college students from poor backgrounds (using the schools as the “group” mechanism to spread risk) were immediately criminalized by obamacare. (see, that’s “discrimination”)
Eventually, everyone’s insurance will be criminalized, or more precisely, it will be illegal to sell insurance to anyone, outside of the government “insurance” program. Thus, when Obama claimed you could keep your coverage, he was lying, but then, everything he said about this was a lie (Even calling nationalization “reform” is a lie, its the opposite of reform.)
Worse, millions of people are seeing dramatic rises in their insurance premiums, because the ONLY way insurers are able to keep their insurance programs going after Obamacare comes into effect is to freeze them– not make any changes at all to the premiums or the coverage– including coverage changes mandated by obamacare itself, ironically– will be called “selling insurance” and run the afoul of the law.
Since Obama is driving inflation thru the roof, and costs are rising everywhere on everything, they insurers are raising prices to account for future inflation so they can continue to offer insurance– at this same price– for as many years as they can before they are forced to be shut down.
They know they will eventually be forced to cancel their programs– the law forces them out of business– but they are valiantly trying to keep choice alive as long as possible.
Of course, I’ve yet to meet a leftist idiot who even bothered to read the obamacare law (which I did, by the way, regularly until they made it secret… the fact that they made it secret should be enough of a warning of their intent.)
And being blissful in their ignorance, when I’ve pointed out these kinds of facts about the law, these ignorant idiots, who have never read the law, often tell me “stop watching Fox news, you’re WRONG!!!!!”.
And to that, I have to say— when you no longer have insurance— remember me, and how stupid you were.
OK, I’ll just pick on one fallacy in your verbose post and leave the rest for others:
Inflation in the U.S. is very low. Inflation in the health care industry has historically run well above core inflation. That was true during the Bush administration, too.
You can believe what you want and create your own little fantasyland, but reality always wins in the end. Prepare yourself for a rude awakening one of these days.
Kingmel,
Did you happen to see the top new story today?
“Health-Benefits Costs Rise Most in Six Years Surpassing $15000 per family”.
Hope and change won’t pay your bills.
On the other hand that might have happened with or without the law, since they have been skyrocketing for at least a decade.
Meanwhile the top news a day ago was roughly “fewer uninsured than anytime in last six years”… precisely because the new law lets kids stay on parent’s policy up to 26
Bull shit. Thanks Maobama. Everything belongs to the collective. We are voting you commies out next year!!!!!!!
The ignorance in this post made me laugh. Like him or hate him Obama is not a communist. Thanks for the laugh Edwardo I needed it this morning.
communism (commie-friendly definition):
a : a theory advocating elimination of private property
b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
… sounds close to Obama to me, and it’s definitely not funny.
mac user 47,
Whoa! When did Obama decree that we all had to give up all of our private possessions and share everything we own with each other! I missed that address.
Although, you are correct that we are a somewhat communist nation. We do pay a lot of taxes to share government services like, libraries, law enforcement, public schools, and the interstate highway system to name a few. Maobama went too far when he made us pay for a national highway system, with roads all over the place that we’ll most likely never use. Oh wait! That was Eisenhower, a REPUBLICAN… But of course, that was back in the day when Republicans/Conservatives didn’t act like a bunch of paranoid/schizos who think that everyone is out to get them and steal their stuff.
While you’re at that dictionary site, here’s some other words to look up, “hyperbole”, “paranoia”, cognitive dissonance”…
Also, mac user 47, there’s an old saying, “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Love to read your definition of ‘communist.’. On second thought, forget it!!
you can read the definition I grabbed here if you like:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communism
well done, 47…are you available to run for president in 2012?
Point out ONE thing that Obama has done that shows that he is NOT a communist?
Allowed you to speak your mind. I’m of no opinion on this but I couldn’t resist 😉
Obama (and like-minded) haven’t gotten their way overnight Thank GOD, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to speak your mind. Do you think free speech is allowed in China? It takes time to ruin the greatest free country ever created….
Anytime anyone speaks their mind and it doesn’t agree with him, you are labeled a terrorist or extremist.
Like when Ford ran a commercial on TV where a man bought his F-150 Pick-up truck because it was built by a company that did not take a bail-out by the government? Ad was pulled at the ‘request’ of the white house. Or how about the firing of the CEO of GM by the President? No, the president did not actually call him into the office and say your fired, but he told GM they needed to fire the CEO and it was done.
Government should stay out of the realm of personal property, rights, and business.
Macview:
“Allowed you to speak your mind”
Oh, I don’t think that is reasonable, anyone publicly disagreeing with the “new left” is shouted down, heckled, or silenced (via some covert means) and labeled an extremist, racist, terrorist or worse.
It’s actually pretty frighting.
Wow. Just… wow.
Let’s see… Kept the Bush tax cuts in place, despite us progressives begging him not to. Modeled his health care plan on the one belonging to noted communist Mitt Romney. Put Timothy Geitner and other Goldman-Sachs alumni in charge of fiscal policy. The list goes on and on.
F***, we libs wish Obama was more of a socialist! We see him as too far to the right! Poor guy can’t win.
But I’m sure you don’t pay attention to any real news. I’m sure you’re understanding begins and ends with “OBAMA IS A MUSLIM NAZI COMMUNIST HURR DURR!!1” or whatever bullcrap they’re spouting on Radio Right Wing these days.
——RM
i ponder somewhere, somehow, somebody was paid off for this decision. Welcome to America, The Land of the scam artists and backstabbers.
So Apple should enter the search engine market now. They could develop their own search engine and call it Google. Since everyone uses Google, that should be okay right? Based on this new rationale.
agreed, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Of course we are supposed to more enlightened and better people, because we hold ourselves to a higher ideal…but one can only take so much assault before you have to stand up for yourself.
There is that danger. Trademarks can become generic through common usage. Band-Aid and Kleenex are on the edge. Photoshop and Plexiglas were in danger at one point.
Others have lost any claim to their own trademarks (Aspirin, Escalator, Thermos, Zipper, Yo-Yo, Linoleum, to name a few).
It was just like they denied the “Windows” trademark to Microsoft because everyone else was using that term back in the early 80s.
OH, WAIT, they DID NOT deny that one.
I guess the old adage still holds: do not apply logic to the U.S. Government!
The south end of a jackass facing north. Apparently, the only value in patents is for lawsuits.
So since everyone uses Velcro, Frisbee, and Rollerblades as generic terms rather than hook and loop fasteners, flying discs, and in-line skates, those companies should now have their trademarks revoked.
This is the stupidest logic I have heard. You file for a trademark on something you develop back in 2007. Other companies start copying you and call their technology the same thing. Four years later the judge deems it a common term and denies your trademark. I guess that’s what we get with our government. The process should be: 1) File for trademark, 2) Employee processing application puts it in a computer to search for an existing trademark, 3) Trademark approved or denied. The whole process should take about 20 minutes – not four years.
This doesn’t bode well for Apple’s App Store trademark.
Boo hoo, you need a Kleenex? DANG!, I mean Tissue?
Er.. that sure make videos like this one a little awkward.
*shakes head.
Not noted in the MDN brief was the arguement that the term “multi-touch” was in use at least 2 years before iPhone introduction in 2007. There are Jeff Han videos to back this up. I think that more than anything else this prior use was the killer.
“Apple wanted to trademark Multi-Touch. Not the name, but the technology itself.”
What’s wrong, Apple?
Never heard the song “When I Think Of You, I Multitouch Myself”?
I’m sure Balmer has….
So because the lazy lard asses at the patent office take 4 years for an application, they deny the patent because by that time everyone has already stolen it.
What a bunch of a$$holes.
In case you didn’t notice, the original application was denied and Apple filed an appeal. That’s why it took 4 years.
That and the term “Multi-Touch” simply isn’t unique enough to trademark.
TED Video from Feb 2006. How did Apple think they would patent or trademark existing technology? WIth the same same even. http://youtu.be/QKh1Rv0PlOQ
Because clearly Apple developed it overnight right before the iPhone Announcement right? This You tube video proves it!
Apple works on technology in house for years before you and the rest of the outside world sees it. Don’t be so simple.
U are right, Ohbummer I not a communist, he is a Marxist.
But it doesn’t make a difference. The unwashed masse in the US wouldn’t know what either means. They elect a president, based on looks, smooth talk and flappy ears.
Certainly explains two terms of Bush Jr.
… Not mention skin colour…
Perhaps you should ask someone who survived the regimes of the Khmer Rouge, East Germany, and North Korea, and the terrorists of Sendoro Illuminoso if they think Obama is a Marxist. After looking at you with an incredulous expression on their faces, they’ll probably ask you what kind of a fuckwit you are, before walking away shaking their heads in bemusement.
I hope I haven’t used any words you don’t understand.
Don’t worry, I am sure Edwardo still would call the police if he was robbed, will collect Social Security, drives on the road he uses while bitching about the Govt, uses the electricity on the electrical grid, flies on a plane kept in sky by the FAA, drinks the water and breathes the air kept clean by the EPA, eats the foods checked by the FDA?
Nah, what am i saying Edwardo has his own road construction company for his personal road use, his own utility company, private air regulation company, a royal food tester, and lives in a bubble off the grid. That’s why he is posting on a public for…um
Wait a minute did you use your own internet lines or did you send that post from the one built by Govt regulation many years ago?
uh, Edwardo also helped pay for those. You dipshit.
botvinnik can’t admit that he is bi. Likes it both ways. Govt bad. Hey but since it’s there he should be using it. Government of the USA, by the people and for the people. Sounds commie eh? Cheering misfortune of your fellow citizens because they are less fortunate than you. It must be nice to be so clueless, hateful, racist, religulous. Go find your governless utopia….it’s called Somalia. That’s what we will become in your fantasy world. Tea bagging scum.
Wow. rhetoric.assassin is not much of a rhetoric assassin. You’re talking about the police he pays for, the social security which he paid for, the electricity which he pays for, the plane flights which he pays for, the water he pays for, the foods he pays for, the roads he pays for? At what point did those things become provided for by a separate entity outside of the people of this country, of which Edwardo is part? Free people created the US government to be held in check and subservient, not a voracious destroyer of freedoms, privacy, private property.
A few points of contention:
1. The FAA does not “keep planes in the sky” It can, however keep them on the ground.
2. The EPA has not proven effective at keeping our water, nor Air “Clean”.
3. The internet was not “BUILT” by government regulation.
Thanks for bringing this up – the Fire Department and the Police are totally COMMUNIST – there is no free market there – it is GOVERNMENT – we have to run for the hills NOW
Never mind, of course, that the US pays 2x per capita more for health care than other western countries, gets worse outcomes and doesn’t cover everybody (politicians, millionaires excepted) – fixing that by looking at what works is MORE regulation and MORE government involvement and OBVIOUSLY is EVIL AND COMMUNIST
And, why can’t I buy a Stinger Missile at 7-11? And a portable suitcase nuclear weapon to protect myself if I work on Wall Street? What part of an unlimited right to bear arms wasn’t clear? Nobody cares about context (1776 dated weaponry) and common sense. I want a nuke!
And why can’t I lie and yell fire in a crowded theater – the right to free speech and to lie without consequence is also absolute. Run for the hills NOW, I tell you – NOW
Sorry, the “government” was right on this one.
American politics make me laugh. Obama a communist, or marxist? He has barely any socialist in him (that was NOT a universal health care bill that was passed, that was universal health insurance).
The current Democrats are more right-leaning that most major right-wing parties in the rest of the world. You would consider the current Canadian prime minister, an hard-right evangelical Christian with a science minister who believes the world is only 6000 years old, to be a liberal commie for suggesting Canada’s regulated banks to be the reason Canada’s faring the recession far better than most of the G8.
The US is not like any other country in the world, including Canada. And everyone in those other “free” countries had better hope the US doesn’t fall.
Of course it’s not like any other country–what country is? It does mean though that against the global norm, the US left is actually fairly right. This is why Colbert’s comedic outrage that “Reality has a well-known liberal bias” is funny.
And what’s with putting “free” in quotes? Do you presume the US is the only “true free” country in the world?
Your misguided nationalistic arrogance is laughable. It seems you were never fed propaganda you didn’t gobble right up.
Have you ever even been out of the US? The rest of the world is a beautiful (and yes different) place. It’s not a bad thing at all.
Get out a little, develop your world view for yourself. Stop forming an opinion based on fear and ignorance.
Didn’t take long for the new and improved (by the 0bama administration) USPTO to show it’s collectivist DNA. Look for a rapid ascendence in all things Google.
The hearing occurred in April 2011. The new USPTO law had nothing to do with the decision BY A FEDERAL COURT, not the USPTO.
I have to agree with the USPTO and not because the term is used by everyone, but because it was in use before Apple got involved in multi-touch.
Being “against the global norm” and having “the US left” being “actually fairly right” is what’s good about the USA.
Conservative common sense is a big part of what makes the USA exceptional.
Conservative “Common sense” led America into its major recession in 2008 (don’t bother blaming Clinton, Bush had 8 years to fix anything the previous administration did) as surely as the too-left politics and culture of Greece led to the current crisis.
The problem Apple has with trying to trademark Multi-Touch (and this has nothing to do with the multi-touch patents Apple has received already) is that it was trying to say that the term Multi-Touch was unique and that consumers associated it with the iPhone.
However, Apple does not use the term “Multi-Touch” on its iPhone packaging, advertising, etc. Yes, you can find it on Apple’s website, but that’s about it. The term was in use prior to Apple filing for its trademark, and the term really isn’t distinctive. If Apple had called it “Apple-Touch” or something different, then it could be trademarked.
This is like someone trying to trademark the term “Search Engine” now. It’s simply been used too much and is not specifically associated with a particular service or product.
Will you wing nuts on the right answer a question? If President Obama is a socialist or Marxist (as you claim) and the actions of the USPTO under his administration is used as your proof, what does that make Bush, who was president when the initial refusal was made?
Gotta love the Republitards! They never let facts get in the way of their logic!
All you dimwits that are trying to lecture me what a Marxist is…
Anyone who believes in the redistribution of wealth by government and surrounds himself with hardcore self admitted Marxists …
Is a Marxist!
I do hope that Apple will challenge this BS ruling by some jackass lawyer all the way the Supreme Court.
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