macnn/electronista
09/06/2007, 9:45am, EDT
Thursday, September 6thApple in hot water with HTC over "touch" name?
Apple could potentially deal with a lawsuit from cellphone maker HTC after naming its one of its latest music players the iPod touch, according to one trademark lawyer. While the name by itself is distinctive enough to potentially avoid a suit, the media player's similarity to the HTC Touch in its media playback, touchscreen, and Wi-Fi functions may be enough to warrant a trademark dispute. Though Apple had announced its iPhone with closer functionality months ahead of the HTC phone's June debut, the iPod touch has launched roughly three months after, potentially exposing Apple to claims of stealing its Taiwan rival's product name.
HTC chief Peter Chou has revealed that he is aware of the iPod touch and believes that the Apple device's name is a compliment to his company's own naming scheme, though he declined to either confirm or deny suggestions that HTC might pursue legal action to force a name change and avoid possible confusion.
"HTC Touch is a trademark, but I can't comment right now," Chou said.
If pursued, the trouble might represent the second conspicuous naming issue for Apple this year, the first being the company's high-profile spat with Cisco over its Linksys iPhone VoIP handset that ultimately resulted in Apple successfully negotiating the right to use the iPhone name without disrupting Cisco's own use.
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The HTCrap device was previously known as the Elf, renamed to touch only because they are coping the iPhone and the ideas generated by the iphone!
Not gonna happen, and if it does happen, it's not going to go anywhere. If they sue Apple, it will be for no other reason than publicity.
Hello Mr. CEO. Do you realize that a multi-billion dollar company has named an extremely successful device a name which includes a word which is the same as a word in the name as your flop? Do you want to make some cash?
Reminds me of those commercials. "If you've ever made a device and named it Touch, you may be included in a class-action lawsuit. Call 1-800-GET-RICH for more information."
Fair is fair.
Let's be serious. I've never seen a commercial for a class action suit. Now, "If you've ever been involved in an accident...", "...ever been pregnant and you or your child is suffering from...". Those I've seen all the time.
It's about the product name. Hey, if Apple can get huffy about the word Pod in someone else's product name, what the heck?
Fair is fair.
The airborne meat has a point. McDonald's will sue any eatery with "Mc" in their name. Apple's sued over the word 'pod' (to the point of arguing that 'podcast' might be a trademark). MS has sued on using the word Windows in names.