blogs.zdnet.com — Using extensive documentation from the US Patent & Trademark office website, ZDNet's Russell Shaw discovers the real reasons why Apple is sending cease-and-desist letters to podcasters who use the term in their marketing.
Sep 24, 2006 View in Crawl 4
ryansacSep 24, 2006
Call them PortCasts.
geminitojanusSep 24, 2006
Google's in the dictionary too, as a verb even, yet Google retains the trademark and discourages the use of google as a verb.Apple's doing the same thing here to try to maintain the iPod trademark, even if they're being brash about it. Xerox did the same thing when their name became synonymous with copying, Kleenex with tissues, etc.
dist0rti0nSep 24, 2006
You should always pick your battles, and I'm not sure this is one Apple should fight. Everybody gets that they want to control their brand and protect their trademark, but why stop the assimilation of your product into popular culture? Just make sure nobody makes a music player with the word "pod" in the name and the average consumer will always think that you need an iPod to listed to podcasts, whether you download them from iTunes or elsewhere (meaning Apple will just sell that many more units)
localhSep 24, 2006
So call them "audcasts". Almost sounds the same, and it's clear that it's an audio file, not a video file (which is already referred to as "vidcasts").
mikecermSep 24, 2006
Maybe Leo Laporte could call them portcasts, but other than that, portcasts is not a particularly good name.
felchdonkeySep 25, 2006
It's basically the same thing Digg is going through with having to protect their own trademark for Digg. Like Kevin Rose pointed out, just having the trademark isn't enough - you have to actively protect it, or it can be lost. It sucks that Apple is having to go through this whole thing, but it would be worse for them if legal arcana caused them to lose the iPod trademark altogether.
dragons5Sep 25, 2006
Apple wants to protect "podcast" not that the word will be used much anymore when users begin migrating to Zune and other devices. I believe netcast is an appropriate term for us to use instead. Screw Apple and their crappy iPod.
jeffyjonesSep 25, 2006
You can claim a trademark without ever filing with the USPTO, but in order to defend it, you have to demonstrate its use in commerce and mark it with "TM." Having "iPod" as a registered trademark may not be good enough either. You also need to demonstrate that you've defended it, and in this case, after several years, they haven't defended it. To wake up and do so now, I think they'd lose any actual court case.
thoughtoutSep 25, 2006
They have been trying for the the trade name registration "iPodcast" every since the killed our iPed and having a hard time getting it, I heard. (now just "PED"....and thank god, I rather not confuse people like they said it would)