While the rest of us were celebrating the unveiling of Apple’s much-anticipated smart watch on Tuesday, Apple’s European legal team was busy rushing to file six trademark applications for the name “Apple Watch.”
Of these applications, four featured the Apple logo in front of the word “Watch,” while the other two referred to the two words “Apple Watch.”
Apple’s legal firm filed the trademarks under a total of 11 International Classes for protection and clarification, covering areas including financial transactions, fitness and wellness sensors, and more.
At present the company has not yet filed for “Apple Watch Sport” or “Apple Watch Edition.”
Earlier this year Apple applied for the trademark “iWatch” in the U.S., UK, Australia, the European Union, Denmark, China, India, and dozens of other countries. Perhaps there was a last-minute change in plan (Apple’s wearable was definitely called the iWatch in production), or maybe Apple simply wanted to make sure no-one else would use the name in the smart watch category.
With the naming of Apple Pay and Apple Watch it is possible that we have seen the end of the “i” naming scheme, which has existed since 1998’s iMac, although given their ubiquity there’s virtually no chance of the iPhone or iPad’s name changing.
