“Type ‘iWatch’ into Google’s search engine, and the top result is likely to be an ad for the Apple Watch. Apple pays Google for the advertisements so it doesn’t miss out on potential customers who entered the wrong product name,” Daniele Lepido reports for Bloomberg. “But a small Dublin-based company, which owns the iWatch trademark in Europe, is hoping the ads will cost Apple a lot more.”
“Probendi, an Irish software development studio, filed an urgent procedure on June 26 with a court in Milan protesting Apple’s use of the term in its ads, according to the tribunal filing obtained by Bloomberg,” Lepido reports. “Over the years, many companies, including American Airlines, Geico, and Rosetta Stone, have tried to take on Google or its advertisers in court over trademark issues, often unsuccessfully. Google’s policy for its ad service says it evaluates trademark complaints on a case-by-case basis and ‘may enforce certain restrictions.'”
“Probendi co-founder Daniele Di Salvo told Bloomberg last year that the company had warned Apple against using the term. He also said the company was working on a smartwatch of its own that would undercut the Apple Watch in price, run Google’s Android software, and carry the name iWatch,” Lepido reports. “Di Salvo now says the project is ‘in standby.'”
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MacDailyNews Take: Yes, we bet it is. Perpetual standby.