Apple just obtained a U.S. Trademark for “280,” but don’t expect that to be the official name of some new and exciting Apple product. Rather, it is a trademark that covers the logo for Apple’s popular Maps icon.
Why is there a 280 in Apple’s Maps icon? Simple: Interstate 280 passes right by Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Apple’s trademark covers both the icon and, intriguingly, the word. The mark description reads:
“The mark consists of a gray map with streets in gray and white and highways in yellow and orange, a highway sign in blue, yellow and red bearing the number “280″ in white, and a gray and red pin.”
Why has Apple trademarked 280 in addition to the icon’s design? Simple: when you submit a trademark filing for an icon, you must also put in the “word mark” field any words that are included in that icon. In Apple’s Maps.app icon’s case, that word mark is more abstract than most.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
21 responses to “Apple Now Owns Trademark On ‘280’… What?”
As described in the article, Apple owns a trademark on the “280 map icon”, not the number or highway 280. Just in case any troll jumps the gun too quickly. :)
its the new Apple University!.. Opps.
Quite clever. Many of the knockoff iPhone makers just clone all of the icons as well, to make it look as close as possible to the real deal.
Trademarks are much more easily enforced than the appearance of a gadget. Any knockoffs that use the above icon can be seized on this basis alone.
what’s next? 1°,2°,3°,….71°…?
what’s next? 1°,2°,3°,….71°…?
The circle in the map is Infinite Loop. Â The pin represents Apple Headquarters.
It’s the images that make up the icon in composite, not the number 280 or the sign 280. See lawsuit, Samsung.Â
The circle in the logo is Infinite Loop. Â The pin is dropped at Apple headquarters.
The pin in the map is in front of the 1 Infinite Loop arch.
The pin in the icon is closer to BJ’s Brewhouse.
is that legal to include the interstate highway shield? i would think that’s like including the white house logo or something like that.
Exactly. It’s not 280 that they trademarked. It’s that number on an interstate shield on a map of certain colors to symbolize certain things. All for a particular purpose. THAT is the trademark.Â
I can go and use 280 on a diamond as the trademark for my clothing company and Apple can’t say a thing