It’s been many years since Apple last used its famous “Think Different” advertising slogan, which accompanied the company’s ads from soon after Jobs’ return in 1997 until the launch of the iMac G4 in 2002.
Almost a decade-and-a-half later, however, Apple’s not content to let the trademark lapse on its iconic mantra: this month updating it for the first time since 2009 with a new European Patent and Trademark Office filing.
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.
Another piece of the “when will Apple release the iWatch” puzzle may have fallen in to place, with the news that Apple is actively pursuing the iWatch trademark in dozens of countries around the globe.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Apple if it was that straightforward.
Rather than trademarking the term itself, Apple appears to be using a shell company called Brightflash USA LLC to do the work on its behalf.
The firm is registered in Delaware, and has previously been tied to trademarking efforts by Apple. One indicator of the connection between Apple and Brightflash is that it is using the same IP attorney in several locations.
The company behind Candy Crush Saga has withdrawn its controversial trademark application for the word “Candy” in the United States, according to documents filed with the U.S. Trademark Office early on Monday morning.
Did Apple invent the “app”?
In terms of coining the word — or coming up with the idea of software — the obvious answer is that of course they didn’t.
But did Apple’s approach to apps — seen most readily through the type of applications sold through its App Store — forever change what the typical user thinks of when they hear the word?
Apple has moved to trademark the “Advertising Re-Imagined” slogan used to promote its iAd mobile advertising platform. The Cupertino company filed for the trademark on Wednesday, September 25, more than three years after it launched the iAd business.
Apple announced Logic Pro X last week, and alongside it an iPad companion app called Logic Remote that allows users to record, mix, and play virtual instruments remotely. The Cupertino company has now moved to trademark the app’s icon.
Flowboard. Flipboard. Look too similar? The people behind the Flipboard app certainly think so.
Brent Brookler, CEO of Treemo and creator of e-publishing iPad app Flowboard, says Flipboard has been threatening him with legal action since shortly after his app launched back in April, asking him to change the name of his app. Flipboard also wants the logo changed, which they say is also too similar to its own logo.
Apple is on a quest to register the “iWatch” trademark worldwide ahead of its rumored smartwatch launch later this year, with filings already made in Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico. But the Cupertino company will hit a snag in the United States and the United Kingdom, where the iWatch name is already spoken for.
Apple has applied for the “iWatch” trademark in Japan following months of speculation that has claimed the company will launch its first smartwatch later this year. According to the June 3 filing with the Japan Patent Office, which was spotted by Bloomberg, the iWatch name will cover products including “a handheld computer or watch device.”
