Stephen Withers
Friday, 23 May 2008 03:29
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Apple is facing another trademark case, even though it took steps to licence the name in question. A small peripheral maker claims prior use of the Mighty Mouse name.
When Apple picked the Mighty Mouse moniker for its current scroll-ball mouse, it seems the computer maker cut a deal with CBS, which owns the cartoon superhero of the same name. On July 9, 2007, CBS sought to formally extend its existing Mighty Mouse trademark to cover computer mice, giving a first use date of August 2, 2005.
But when Apple's Mighty Mouse went on sale, Man & Machine, a US-based developer of sealed keyboards and mice, already had a computer mouse of the same name on the market.
It filed its trademark application on December 18, 2007 (the day CBS's application was published for opposition), with a first use date of March 16, 2003.
Consequently, Man & Machine is suing both Apple and CBS.
As a general rule, the first user of a trademark in a particular area of commerce wins. However, it can be held that if a trademark is sufficiently well known, its use in an unrelated area by another business is enough to cause dilution and therefore infringement.
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