The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded use of the "Mighty Mouse" name to the peripheral maker Man & Machine on Wednesday, potentially ending Apple's use of the name for its own mouse.
Man & Machine makes its own line of computer pointing devices under the Mighty Mouse name, and was apparently bent out of shape that Apple was doing the same.
Apple was licensing the name from CBS, the owner of the trademark for the superhero cartoon character. Based on the USPTO decision, however, its trademark didn't extend to tech gear.
There's no word yet on whether or not Apple will try to license the Mighty Mouse trademark from Man & Machine, or if it will rebrand its mouse. Since Man & Machine is already actively using the trademark for its own pointing devices, it's more likely Apple will drop the name in favore of something else.
Thanks to TechCrunch for the heads up.]