Legal News

Does Apple?s iPad Have an iP iProblem?

By Ashby Jones

Apple might have a couple iPad problems.

For starters, a basic question: Will the thing sell? From the coverage we’ve read, it’s not a slam-dunk “yes” as it so often is Apple. The product, at least for now, seems to have a definitional problem. Is it a big iPod Touch? A small MacBook? If the answer to either is yes, then what’s its point? If the answer is no, then, well, what the heck is it, exactly?

But the company could have another problem. Let’s get all clever and call it an “iProperty” issue.

Seems that Fujitsu already has a product called an iPad (pictured), a gizmo mainly used by shop clerks. According to this NYT article, Fujitsu applied for an iPad trademark in 2003, and is claiming that it should have sole ownership of the name. Click here, also, for the FT story.

"It's our understanding that the name is ours," Masahiro Yamane, director of Fujitsu's public relations division, said Thursday. He said Fujitsu was consulting lawyers over next steps.

According to the NYT, Fujitsu's application to trademark the iPad name stalled because of an earlier filing by Mag-Tech, an information technology security company for another device. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office listed Fujitsu's application as abandoned in early 2009, but the company revived its application in June.

The following month, Apple used a proxy to apply for an international trademark for the iPad. It has since filed a string of requests with the U.S. Patent Office for more time to oppose Fujitsu's application. Apple has until Feb. 28 to say whether it will oppose Fujitsu's claims to the iPad name.

Of course, loyal LBers and Apple followers will remember that the company faced a similar spat three years ago with Cisco Systems over the iPhone name. The disagreement was ultimately settled.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 28, 2010 (boomark / email).