Saturday, February 10, 2007

Apple Sends Trademark Warning to Own Customers

Via boingboing.net -

Heather sez, "My friends and I have been regularly attending iPod Monday every week at the Lift in downtown Des Moines, Iowa for two years, where patrons create 15-minute playlists based on a theme (updated weekly at ipodmonday.com) and hook them up to the bar's speaker system. This week, Apple sent a cease-and-desist letter to Clint Curtis, the event's creator. Why they've decided to do this now is still unknown, since Curtis not only asked Apple's permission before starting iPod Monday, but he's also been sending Apple weekly updates with no response from them until now."

Please, fanboys, don't send me dumb notes averring that Apple's failure to police this use of its mark will lead to the end of its ability to stop manufacturers from producing rival MP3 players and calling them iPods. That's a fairy tale that trademark lawyers tell their kids when they want to reassure them that they'll have a healthy college fund. Courts don't declare trademarks generic because they're used descriptively to describe an actual use of the actual product. Link

--------------------------------------------------

So a group of iPod fans get together to share playlists...then Apple attemps to pull the lawyers out of them.

Lets scare our own customers that are promoting our products with legal threats...smart.

We know that always worked for the RIAA.

No comments:

Post a Comment