Apple managed to score an interesting trademark in the U.S.: The number 280. More specifically, it’s “280” as used in the Maps app icon on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Trademarkia shows the trademark was filed on April 21, 2010, and changed to registered on June 28, 2011.
The trademark description states:
The mark consists of a gray map with streets in gray and white and highways in yellow and orange, a highway sign in blue, yellow and red bearing the number “280” in white, and a gray and red pin.
Presumably, Apple want to make sure other companies don’t release map and navigation products with similar logo or icon designs to make sure there isn’t any confusion with its own Maps app. Luckily for the rest of us, we can keep using the number 280, and driving the like-named highway in California that also just so happens to run right next to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.
[Thanks to TechCrunch for the heads up.]