iPhone History Repeats Itself
January 28, 2010
By Andy Patrizio
Though Apple has finally unveiled its widely rumored, long-expected iPad tablet PC, it’s not out of the woods yet: Other companies are claiming ownership of the iPad name.
Japanese electronics giant Fujitsu released a product in 2002 called the iPad, a Windows CE-based handheld device used by shop clerks for doing store inventory. It applied for a U.S. trademark on the name in March 2003, but that stalled because of an earlier trademark filing by Mag-Tech, an IT security company.
Mag-Tech, meanwhile, had wanted to use the same name for keypads used to enter personal identification numbers.
Making it all the more confusing, a trademark for iPad was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week to a mysterious Delaware firm, IP Application Development LLC. This company is widely thought to be connected to Apple, allowing the firm to obtain trademarks without having to do so under its own name so as to maintain some secrecy around new products.
Requests for comment to Fujitsu America and Apple were not returned.
Fujitsu has only applied for the trademark in the U.S. There are several other owners of iPad trademarks around the world, though, including Siemens, which uses it in engines and motors, according to a Financial Times report.
In many cases, conflicts like this are usually taken care of before a major product is introduced, but that never stopped Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) before. Steve Jobs and company faced a similar problem in 2007 with the iPhone, the name for which Cisco already owned. Ultimately, Cisco and Apple settled over the iPhone name.
At one point, Fujitsu abandoned its application, but revived the attempt in June 2009. Apple has since been looking to block USPTO action on the name. The company filed three requests to extend the deadline to file its objection — giving it the opportunity to roll out its own iPad without confirming the product’s existence in a formal objection before it was ready.
Apple now has until Feb. 28 to say whether it will oppose Fujitsu’s application trademark.
This will all likely be settled very quickly, reasons Rob Enderle, president of The Enderle Group.
“I’ve never known Apple to back down on a name. I think they figure they can work this out with whomever the conflicted parties are, and Fujitsu are known for not liking litigation so I think they will figure this out,” he told InternetNews.com.
“It’s not like Fujitsu is actively marketing the brand name,” he added.
Andy Patrizio is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.