Apple has
stepped up its legal crackdown on businesses using the word 'pod' in product and
company names.
The company sent a cease-and-desist order last week to
Podcast
Ready, which markets an application known as
myPodder
that lets users download podcasts directly to a portable music player.
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Lawyers for Apple contended that the term 'pod' has been used by the public
to refer to Apple's music player so extensively that it falls under Apple's
trademark protection, according to a copy of the
legal
complaint published on the Podcast Ready website.
"Podcast Ready and myPodder consist in substantial part of Apple's iPod mark
and contain Apple's 'pod' mark in its entirety," the Apple legal document
charged.
The letter also cites existing and pending trademark applications in the US
and internationally for the terms 'iPod' and 'Pod'.
Apple is demanding that Podcast Ready removes trademark applications for its
company name and software.
The legal notice suggests that Apple is claiming the word 'podcast' as a
registered trademark. Although originally derived from the word 'iPod',
'podcast' has become a generic term to refer to user-generated online audio
content.
Earlier this month, Apple settled with designer Terry Wilson who had created
the TightPod laptop bag. The product has now been renamed
Tight
Jacket.
Apple had not responded to a request for comment about the Podcast Ready
allegations by press time.
The New Oxford
American Dictionary defines 'podcast' as "a digital recording of a radio
broadcast or similar program, made available on the internet for downloading to
a personal audio player".
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