iPad mini trademark rejected by US Patent Office

A review by the US Patent and Trademark Office denied Apple’s application to trademark the iPad mini tablet.

Apple has the right to address whatever specific concerns might have been cited by the USPTO, but the primary issue seems pretty difficult to maneuver around, as the iPad mini “merely describes a feature of characteristic of the applicant’s good.”

The USPTO also took issue with the iPad mini web-page by stating that it “fails to include a picture or a sufficient textual description of the goods in sufficiently close proximity to the necessary ordering information…” Basically, the USPTO review compared the submission with advertising which is not allowed to be used in a trademark application.

However, since Apple owns the trademark “iPad,” it does seem odd that there would be an issue with the application for “iPad mini” as a whole. Apple owns a trademark for the iPod nano and other variations of iDevices, named around characteristics that “merely describe” the feature of the device.

We suspect that Apple has responded to this denial with zeal. Love it or hate it, do you think the USPTO is being a little overbearing or do these details matter in the market place?

source: PCMag.com