Canada to find on iPhone trademark in June

Canada will hear first findings about whether Apple can use the iPhone trademark in the country nearly one year after the handset's US debut, according to an updated filing with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Having begun an investigation into the validity of the trademark in late February, the government body now expects an examiner's initial report on the validity of the trademark to appear by June 26th, or three days before the phone's first full year on the market in the US.

The ruling is not likely to be decisive, but may be crucial to setting a release date for the iPhone in the country. Apple has been embroiled in a trademark dispute with the Ontario telecoms firm Comwave, which filed for a trademark on the term "iPhone" in Canada months after Apple but complained that it had begun using the trademark earlier. Comwave has so far insisted that Apple either buy out the iPhone trademark or else refrain from using it in the country, citing the ubiquitousness of the cellphone brand as making it impossible to simply share the trademark.

Apple has so far declined to comment on its plans to secure the trademark.

The additional barrier of high data fees from the iPhone's likely carrier in the country, Rogers, was eliminated last month when the company launched unlimited data plans that apply to the majority of its handset lineup.

Filed under: iPhone
Other story tags: Rogers, Comwave

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220760 03/28, 8:39am, EDT Leave it to lawyers...

...to tie everything up in knots with the meter running... Yet more evidence Shakespeare was indeed wise...

posted by bobolicious

220764 03/28, 10:07am, EDT After!!!

"...Comwave, which filed for a trademark on the term "iPhone" in Canada months after Apple..."

a filed trademark MONTHS after Apple? I just don't get the validity of this trademark dispute. It should be noted who was first awarded the name in Canada and elsewehere, might help.

posted by MeandmyMac

220765 03/28, 10:30am, EDT Correction.

None of the wireless carriers offer "unlimited data" plans. What Rogers does offer similar to Bell and Telus is unlimited mobile WAP browser plans for internet surfing (doesn't cover email or downloads) on non-data devices such as the Motorola Razr. If the iPhone comes to Canada then the wireless carrier will most likely have a specific iPhone plan similar to how they have specific Blackberry plans for the RIM Blackberry.

posted by imagine engine

220769 03/28, 11:14am, EDT Last poster is right

Again, I work for Rogers, while I'm sure Apple will strong arm Rogers into an unlimited data plan (they can afford it the network could handle it especially with all the crazy 3G stuff they're doing) we currently do not have ANYTHING close to what would allow for a good amount of data on an iPhone you can do 15 megs in an hour that's half of the 60 dollar data plan. The only one that MIGHT be OK is the 500 meg plan for 80 dollars. The iPhone uses the same sort of data setup as a Windows Mobile device, you can not use the unlimited WAP browsing wireless essentials with that, you will be billed 4 cents a kilobyte. I really really really wish MacNN would stop reporting errors about Rogers. Yes we will probably get the iPhone my guess is once the HSPA version comes out, because Rogers really wants to leverage that. If they come out with a video calling feature in it like has been rumoured Rogers will most certainly snatch it up.

posted by Salty

220808 03/28, 2:36pm, EDT Canada is not USA

meandmymac writes that s/he cannot believe in the validity of the lawsuit.

Well, let's not forget that Canada is not USA. By that, I mean that Apple might have trademarked the term in the U.S. before Comwave, but I suspect that Comwave trademarked it in Canada first but that occurrence itself was after Apple trademarked it in the U.S. Get it? Different country...etc., etc.

posted by thibaulthalpern

220818 03/28, 3:35pm, EDT RE: canada is not usa

okay that helps out, thnx.

posted by MeandmyMac

220846 03/28, 7:27pm, EDT Re: after!!!

a filed trademark MONTHS after Apple? I just don't get the validity of this trademark dispute. It should be noted who was first awarded the name in Canada and elsewehere, might help.

But they claim to have started using it before Apple trademarked it. Hence, the inquiry.

posted by testudo

220889 03/30, 8:33pm, EDT MacNN should stop lying.

There is no such thing as unlimited data plan in Canada! There is hardly any broadband (a pathetic connection above 64kbps is considered broadband). Abuses like traffic shaping are common practice in Canada. ADSL2+ coverage is spotty, fiber doesn't go higher than 20mbps (compared to 100Mbps in developed countries) and traffic is capped to a couple of GB per months. Canada is a country which can compete only with 3rd world countries in the wireless technology market... There is nothing you can do about it as there is no competition. And sites like MacNN should stop lying about unlimited data-plans. The "Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan" is nothing else than a pathetic marketing name for WAP.

posted by slawo

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