Patently Apple posted a piece about the USPTO refusing the trademark application of Apple for the term “Touch ID.” Apparently the application was denied over likelihood of confusion. The domain name TouchId.com is registered to a company in the Cayman Islands (Not Name Administration), it was registered 13 years ago. The domain is parked.
From the article:
Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published an official letter that was sent to Apple regarding their trademark application for “Touch ID” having been refused by their trademark examiner. Noteworthy is the fact that the letter was originally sent to Apple on May 7 and only made public today. That’s over a two month delay. The case against Apple’s Touch ID being registered seems to be solid and valid. Apple officially has six months to reply to USPTO with a work-around remedy or risk automatic trademark abandonment. With Apple likely to add their Touch ID feature to new iPads this fall, it’ll be interesting to see how Apple reacts to this latest news.An interesting point made by USPTO was in regard to “Infinite Wording.” According to USPTO “In the identification of goods, applicant must use the common commercial or generic names for the goods, be as complete and specific as possible, and avoid the use of indefinite words and phrases. If applicant uses indefinite words such as “accessories,” “components,” “devices,” “equipment,” “materials,” “parts,” “systems” or “products,” such words must be followed by “namely,” followed by a list of the specific goods identified by their common commercial or generic names.”
Read the full article here
I guess that they MAY have kept it quiet because they have applied for this Mark in many other Countries (granted in France already) and don’t wnat the others to get wind and effect their decisions.