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April 01, 2013

Apple Denied iPad Mini Trademark in US Over Lack of Uniqueness

By Steve Anderson, Contributing TMCnet Writer

Normally, Apple (News - Alert) is one of the first places people look when it comes to uniqueness, but that streak broke, as a recent letter emerged saying Apple was denied a U.S. trademark for the iPad Mini line of tablets.



The reason, reportedly, was all around the lack of a unique meaning.

The letter from the Patent Office, which had been issued back in January but only recently came to light, called Apple's product name "merely descriptive," rather than something that created a "unique, incongruous, or otherwise non-descriptive meaning," which is what would be required in order to register a trademark.

While the term "iPad Mini" by itself certainly creates an image of one particular product, the component parts of the name itself, according to the Patent Office's letter, don't.

The Patent Office's letter appeared to have rejected every step of the term "iPad Mini" as well, starting with the "i" part of "iPad" as being "capable of providing access to the Internet", the "pad" part as describing a "pad computer" or "Internet pad device", and the "Mini" part as "descriptive of goods that are produced and sold in miniature form."

Based on the letter, Apple has until July to respond to the Patent Office and offer the necessary evidence that the term "iPad Mini" is more than just a descriptive term.

There's actually a section of the Patent Office's letter that suggests a possible solution for Apple. The part in question reads, "If applicant believes that a portion of the mark has acquired distinctiveness, applicant may amend the application to add a claim of acquired distinctiveness as to that portion under Trademark Act Section 2(f)."

Given that reports so far indicate that 22.9 million iPad and iPad Mini devices were sold in the last quarter of 2012 alone, it's not out of line to think Apple may very well try its approach again with the acquired distinctiveness portion. iPads are in a lot of homes and certainly have a lot of cachet within the industry itself, so suggesting the term iPad has become distinctive, as well as its miniature version in the iPad Mini, may well be perfectly valid.

Indeed, for many people, hearing the name "iPad" or "iPad Mini" doesn't concoct images of a generic "pad computer," but rather the specific pad computer issued by Apple.

It's hard to imagine a world in which other companies could issue an iPad device, or an iPad Mini. Still, it's ultimately up to the Patent Office to agree, and only time will tell if the iPad Mini can get its trademark or not.




Edited by Braden Becker
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