[Infowarrior] - Apple in 873-page legal claim to word 'Pod'

[Richard Forno]

Apple in 873-page legal claim to word 'Pod'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/24/apple_pod_row/

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 24th September 2010 20:37 GMT

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Apple really, really, really wants exclusive rights to the word “Pod,” in names for tech products, the company has argued in an 873-page legal brief filed earlier this week.

Steve Jobs & Co submitted the voluminous document in a dispute with Sector Labs, a startup that's developing a projector called the Video Pod, Wired.com reported. The Reg has been unable to confirm this because the filing (PDF, we're told) was evidently more than the Patent and Trademark Office website could bear.
 
Apple is reportedly arguing that a video projector with the word “Pod” in its name would cause confusion with its own iPod products. Apple has a long history of attacking tech companies that use the name, going after MyPodder, TightPod, PodShow and Podium. And, of course, one can't forget the company's threats against the iPood, a small spade used by Aussie campers to bury their shit. But according to Wired.com, Sector Labs is the only outfit to take Apple on.

The dispute is scheduled to go to trial over the next month.

A lawyer representing Sector Labs tells the publication there's a growing trend of dominant tech firms trying to assume ownership of ordinary words. A trademark infringement suit Facebook filed against a company called Teachbook is one example.

“What I'm hoping to do with this case is to really reach a lot broader of an audience and make it so entrepreneurs and small businesses can use the English language as they see fit in branding their products,” she says. ®