Ever since its advent in the technology industry, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has relied heavily on the concept of branding to expand its business. Surely, Apple is a brand name and any device the company launches under its name automatically receives a stamp of guaranteed quality. People readily buy an Apple product, and largely trust the services it provides, simply because it’s Apple.
Part of the reason why Apple is so trusted everywhere is because the tech giant delivers high quality gadgets with least number of glitches compared to any of its competitors. But most of all, Apple products are famous because they are backed by a large collection of trademarks.
Almost all brands operating in the world today have trademarks, statements that can only be associated with a single brand name which has registered it in the court of law. For example, McDonald’s has “McChicken”, which is a registered trademark, meaning no other company in the world can legally sell a product titled “McChicken”. If anyone else violates this rule of law, McDonald’s may sue him/her for millions.
Registering all of a company’s products as trademarks is a common practice in the business world. However, one company has become so habitual in the art of trademarking everything it does, it has now captured the attention of the world. That company is the world famous, Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. has been selling iPhones and iPods/iPads for a very long time now and the company is now one of the most valuable companies in the world. Only last quarter, Apple generated a total profit figure of almost $8.5 billion, which is supernatural in itself.
Now, all Apple Inc. seems to be doing is registering trademarks in order to ensure all that has contributed to the company’s success is not stolen by market competitors. However, the company is not able to trademark everything it wishes.
One example of a trademark not allowed is the famous “App Store”. Apple appealed to an Australian court that the term “App Store” was popularized by Apple and that the company earned the right to use it exclusively all over the world. However, after two years of constant argument and debate, the Federal Court in Australia, under the ruling of Justice David Yates, denied Apple the right to trademark the term “App Store”. According to the ruling, Apple had failed to establish “the extent to which it had used ‘App Store’ before the filing date”.
The case in Australia is not the first time Apple has sought a trademark for the “App Store”. Previously, Apple had made an appeal in a US court of law to allow the company the exclusivity with the term “App Store”. The company also filed a case against the online retailing giant, Amazon, for use of the “App Store” term on its website. Apple lost the trademark case. It later dropped the case against Amazon.
Currently, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a long list of trademarks in its store, some of which are “Carbon”, “There’s an app for that”, “Aqua”, among many others. Last year, Apple sought to add the trademark “startup” to its collection, but this appeal was also rejected by the Australian court it had been made to.
