Apple has yet again sent in the lawyers – this seems to be a favourite tactic of theirs which is increasingly giving them a bad name (and I am a Mac fan!).
This time, Apple have gone after a company called Podcast Ready for their use of the word Podcast and myPodder (their product name).
Robert Scoble has suggested using the terms Audiocast and Videocast from now on and dumping the term podcast – however this doesn’t solve the problem for Podcast Ready (nor any potential problems Robert’s company PodTech nor my podcast/audiocast site PodLeaders might yet have). Apple have already gone after several companies for their use of Pod in product names.
Russel Shaw has a very in-depth analysis of this spat where he speculates that:
we have Apple, maker of the iPod, trying to get right with the Trademark office about achieving formal Trademark and related mark protections for iPod AND its sought-after IPODCAST applications.
Russel is probably close to the mark here – however, Apple’s over-vigilence is doing nothing but tarnishing their image.
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3 responses to “Apple claims trademark infringement on 'Podcast'”
[…] Apple claims trademark infringement on ‘Podcast’ Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
[…] Apple has sent out cease and desist letters to podcasters for using the word podcast. Is Apple going to ruin it for everyone because of there marketing and legal gimmicks? I think it’s funny that Apple has gone this route. Podcasting has made the iPod a very nice investment and now with the Zune player coming out Apple needed to do something. The common internet users think that you need an iPod to listen to podcasts which you don’t. With the release of the Zune player Microsoft may market it as the next generation podcast listener. Not what apple would like! I think this is why Apple is doing what they are doing. Bad choice by Apple since the internet and podcasting community will have to come up with another name. The word podcast has become a internet recognized name. However, things may have to start from scratch again. So what would you like the new podcast word to be? What about MAUDcast = Mobile Audio Casting. […]
Don’t be too hard on Apple. Remember, the underdog always needs a good lawyer. I don’t want to do without my Ipod.