February 1st, 2000

[Updated 3:00 PM] New Patents & Trademarks Offer Peek Into Apple by Staff Apple is obviously always working hard, but occasionally something happens that lets the outside world know about it. Patents and trademarks are two such areas and Eric Pollitt has been prowling the US Patent and Trademark virtual offices and came up with some interesting developments. According to the US Patent and Trademark server, Apple has recently been granted 2 new patents and a trademark. The first, and perhaps most interesting, is registration of the name AirSurf. Apple has registered AirSurf/Air Surf, and with recent speculation about iPhone, one gets a sense that Apple might have something brewing. AirPort, although receiving mixed reviews, has been a hit. With an Apple branded handheld seemingly inevitable, AirSurf may tie into wireless browsing, a la the Palm VII. The trademark information as uncovered by Mr. Pollitt: Word Mark: AIRSURF Pseudo Mark: AIR SURF Owner Name: (APPLICANT) Apple Computer, Inc. Owner Address: 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014 CORPORATION CALIFORNIA Attorney of Record: Michael W. Hicks Serial Number: 75-754412 Filing Date: 07/19/1999 Section 1(B) indicator: SECTION 1 (B) Mark Drawing Code: (1) TYPED DRAWING Register: PRINCIPAL Type of Mark: TRADEMARK On the trademark side, Apple has been granted a trademark for "The ornamental design for a modal window for a computer display screen, as shown and described." This could very well be in relation to technology behind the new Aqua interface in Mac OS X, though it could also hint at some other future development. The patent information as uncovered by Mr. Pollitt: Inventors: Coleman; Patricia J. (Montara, CA). Assignee: Apple Computer, Inc. (Cupertino, CA). [**] Term: 14 years. Appl. No.: 86,243 Filed: Apr. 8, 1998 Related U.S. Application Data Division of Ser No. 38,433, May 5, 1995, Pat. No. Des. 393.Intl. Cl. : 1402 Current U.S. Cl.: D14/114.2 Field of Search: D14/114, 114.1-114.9; D18/24-33; D20/11; D19/6; D21/324-33; 345/326, 339-40, 347-57 Apple has also been granted a patent for the round USB mouse that has been shipping with iMacs and PowerMac G3s (Blue & White) and G4s for the last year. You can see it at IBM's patent site. Thanks to those Observers who have written in to help us with this. The patent information as uncovered by Mr. Pollitt: Inventors: Jobs; Steven P. (Palo Alto, CA); Ive; Jonathan P. (San Francisco, CA); Coster; Daniel J. (San Francisco, CA); Stringer; Christopher J. (Pacifica, CA); De Iuliis; Daniele (San Francisco, CA); Andre; Bartley K. (Menlo Park, CA); Howarth; Richard P. (San Francisco, CA); Seid; Calvin Q. (Palo Alto, CA); Satzger; Douglas B. (San Carlos, CA); van de Loo; Marc J. (Palo Alto, CA). Assignee: Apple Computer, Inc. (Cupertino, CA). [**] Term: 14 years. Appl. No.: 96,012 Filed: Nov. 3, 1998Intl. Cl. : 1402 Current U.S. Cl.: D14/117.1 Field of Search: D14/100, 114, 117.1-117.9; D13/158; D21/385, 333; 200/5 R, 5 A, 6 R, 6 A; 273/148 B; 345/156-67; 74/471 XY; 463/36-39 The Mac Observer Spin: It is extremely likely that the patents are in reference to existing technologies or at least announced technologies. The trademark might hint at a future product. According to Observer Eric Pollitt, whom we thank for bringing this information to our attention, patents and trademarks can not be registered on a whim. Please keep in mind that Apple doesn't always use the trademarks that they register. But, by trademark law (in general), one MUST have a product/service if they are to register a name. One can not simply have a trademark on something that doesn't exist. Of course, I'm not an attorney, but I'm sure that some large corporations like Apple can "pre-register" for a particular period of time before a product introduction. Stay tuned for more information, and congratulations to Apple for the new patents! Thanks to the many Observers who wrote in about this story. Apple