While there has been much debate about whether Apple will refer to the next-generation iPhone as "iPhone 5", "iPhone 6", simply "iPhone", or something else entirely, Fusible notes that Apple has filed a claim with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seeking to gain control of the iPhone5.com domain. WIPO authorities are currently assessing compliance of Apple's claim with the agency's regulations, and proceedings are likely to be initiated in the near future.
The iPhone5.com domain currently hosts a very small discussion forum dedicated to discussion of the "iPhone 5". The forum was launched in October 2010 following the debut of the iPhone 4 earlier in the year.
Apple's pursuit of the iPhone5.com domain is interesting given how slow the company has been to take action to secure domains related to its previous products. Apple didn't gain control of iPhone4.com until nearly a year after that device launched and Apple didn't seek to gain control of iPhone4S.com until several weeks after that device debuted last October. In the latter case, Apple was likely extremely motivated to take control of the domain because it was being used to forward visitors to pornography sites.
Given that Apple typically doesn't pursue domain names for its products until after they launch, lest their names be revealed ahead of time by the negotiation process, it seems odd that Apple is already seeking to gain control of iPhone5.com. But with "iPhone 5" having been the name informally attached to Apple's next iPhone form factor redesign for nearly two years now and still in popular use, the company apparently believes that it should have some control over the name's usage.
I don't understand why they feel it's so important to have control of these domains. Clearly, with iPhone4S it was important to control it, but in general...
Trademark law precedent indicates that any mark that is not actively protected can be considered to have been "diluted". This can lead to the loss of control of the trademark by the registered owner.
If a company finds their mark (in this case, "iPhone") is being used without permission, they have two legal alternatives: - To officially sanction the use of their mark - To take legal action to stop the unauthorised use of the mark
If they do not do this, and just ignore the trademark violation, they can lose control over their mark.
Apple are just doing what they are legally required to do. The only other alternative is to give permission to the site to use the trademark, but that would be a risky move, as it would limit their scope for action in the future if the site's content becomes a liability.
How come they haven't done this with the iPad domain names? I went to iPad.com, I get to an empty website saying Coming Soon with a picture of a city. I got to iPad3.com, it doesn't exist.
I go to iPad2.com, it directs me to MacRumors.com lol
My personal feature requests from the new iPhone...and I appreciate some of these are software/OS developments, but bear with me:
1. Bigger screen...I hope at least an inch diagonal larger. 2. Switch to super amoled plus (or some such non-pentile oled) display, so we can actually read outside. 3. More durable (the glass on both sides is just far too fragile). 4. LTE 5. HDMI out, or ability to get a cheap dongle to do this, also standard VGA, DVI, and composite cable capable would be nice. 6. Stereo speakers on the phone. 7. Longer battery life, a couple days without a charge should be here by now! 8. USB 3.0 support for syncing. 9. Printing support that actually supports more than a handful of licensed printers. 10. Incorporation of a stylus for jotting notes. 11. Support for wifi streaming to platforms like xbox, roku, etc. 12. Ability to block calls (you have to jailbreak for this today) 13. Fix buggy wifi syncing. 14. Led to blink for missed calls 15. VOIP calling. 16. Built in IR port for universal remote. 17. Laser pointer. 18. Pico projector. 19. Optical character recognition for snapped docs. 20. Access to the file system. 21. NFC.
Obviously, few of these will be considered...but almost all could be (battery tech simply isn't here yet)
And to the extent other phone makers do incorporate these features will make their products all the more compelling.
What the hell does this have to do with the story you're commenting on?
Well we know there will be another model of the iPhone, and we know Apple likes to gobble up domains to prevent people from profiting from their IP. So is this really news? I don't think it tells us anything about what the next iPhone's name will be -- and who cares anyway.
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(sorry, couldn't resist)
But on a serious note, I don't understand why they're doing this... as gwelmarten already pointed out, everyone knows the iPhone is made by Apple!
Trademark law precedent indicates that any mark that is not actively protected can be considered to have been "diluted". This can lead to the loss of control of the trademark by the registered owner.
If a company finds their mark (in this case, "iPhone") is being used without permission, they have two legal alternatives:
- To officially sanction the use of their mark
- To take legal action to stop the unauthorised use of the mark
If they do not do this, and just ignore the trademark violation, they can lose control over their mark.
Apple are just doing what they are legally required to do. The only other alternative is to give permission to the site to use the trademark, but that would be a risky move, as it would limit their scope for action in the future if the site's content becomes a liability.
I went to iPad.com, I get to an empty website saying Coming Soon with a picture of a city. I got to iPad3.com, it doesn't exist.
I go to iPad2.com, it directs me to MacRumors.com lol
What the hell does this have to do with the story you're commenting on?