'Entertainment' Company Seeks To Rattle Sword Over iTV Trademark
by Brent Dirks
March 6, 2012
While Proview has been a little late to the trademark troll party, starting a fight with Apple right before the iPad 3 - or maybe iPad HD - is released, one company is taking a proactive approach. According to MacRumors, iTV Entertainment, LLC will be taking its case public tomorrow, in an attempt to warn Apple about using the iTV trademark for any unreleased product, like the rumored Apple television set.
MacRumors talked with the company’s CEO, Patrick Hughes:
“Hughes notes that iTV Entertainment has been using its U.S.-registered trademark since 2001 and that it made sure in August 2010 that Apple was aware of the trademark should it have been interested in launching its revamped Apple TV set-top box as the iTV. Hughes tells MacRumors that Apple did not express any interest in acquiring his iTV Entertainment trademark at that time.”Hughes and his company are apparently motivated by the recent speculation that Apple will go all-in for the market and release a total TV solution sometime in the near future. After being speculated on for years, a passage in the book "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, stoked the fire by quoting the former Apple CEO and co-founder saying he "finally cracked it.” With "it" being a television solution. The New York Times most reliably reported late last year that the television will be Siri powered and announced late this year for sale in 2013. Most of the news since then has dubbed the set "iTV,"which has riled up Hughes and his company. This isn’t the first time the iTV name has caused some trademark controversy. Before launching what is known as the Apple TV add-on box for televisions in early 2007, Apple had intended to give the system the iTV moniker. During a sneak peak in late 2006, the company referred to the effort as iTV. But with possible issues from the UK’s ITV network, the name was changed before the actual launch. The current Apple TV box has remained a “hobby.” But it is expected to receive new attention with the probable third generation of the device unveiled tomorrow along with the new iPad. The new Apple TV is expected to stream full high-definition 1080p content. Are companies like iTV Entertainment just being bold, or is it nothing more than trying to make a buck from Apple’s huge success in every market it has touched? I for one couldn’t really care what Apple calls its TV set, as long as it releases one. (Image via AppleInsider)
