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On one hand, the name seems pretty obviously derived from iPad. On the other hand, I'm writing this on a Thinkpad; people other than Apple have been using "pad"
by Zak 17y ago
On one hand, the name seems pretty obviously derived from iPad. On the other hand, I'm writing this on a Thinkpad; people other than Apple have been using "pad" in computer names for quite some time now.
- CWuestefeld 17y agoAs I understand trademark law, the fact that something is an obvious derivation isn't relevant (that would be a copyright issue). Note: IANAL The purpose of trademark law is not to protect the seller, but to protect the buyer by preventing confusion. If there's potential that a reasonable buyer might see a "WePad" and think they're buying an Apple iPad product, then this would constitute a trademark violation. But if we don't think that a reasonable person would be misled, then there is no trademark violation. EDIT: spelling
- ZeroGravitas 17y agoThat was the original intention but (and IANAL) I read something recently that said it had been extended so that if something damaged your brand, then you got to say whether it was acceptable or not.
- CWuestefeld 17y agoI've never heard this, so I'd be interested to see a citation. Even if true, I don't see how this could constitute damage to Apple's brand. The fact that Apple's name is used to help understand what a competing product is doesn't do any damage to the brand. It seems equivalent to putting on the box "compare our product to an iPad".