AfterDawn: News

iCloud Communications sues Apple over 'iCloud' name

Small computer communications company iCloud Communications has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company's new "iCloud" service infringes on its trademark.

The company wants a full injunction that will block Apple from launching the service.



iCloud Communications says they have been using the trademark for "identical to or closely related" services since 2005. The suit claims that Apple has damaged the trademark with its iCloud launch and "ensuing saturation advertising campaign."

The complaint is asking for "all profits, gains and advantages as well as all monetary damages sustained." Additionally, it asks for the end of the name and for Apple to "deliver for destruction all labels, signs, prints, insignia, letterhead, brochures, business cards, invoices and any other written or recorded material" with iCloud on it.

Apple officially filed for the trademark in the U.S. and Europe last week.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2011 17:02

• Previous article

• Facebook planning IPO at $100 billion valuation

• Next article

• Samsung will become world's largest smartphone maker this quarter

• 12 comments

• KillerBug

  Quote:Apple officially filed for the trademark in the U.S. and Europe last week. They did a product launch and they didn't even bother to check if it was trademarked? I know iCloud.com isn't taken, but that does not mean no one owns the trademark.
  
  Right now some corporate lawyer at apple is thinking, "iForgot".

  13.6.2011 17:37 #1

• SProdigy

  Blah, this happens when every iDevice is launched. Some troll crawls out from the woods and says "I own the trademark on that." I'm half tempted to create a few dozen "i" businesses of my own, because this looks better than the return on "profitable" .com names.

  13.6.2011 17:42 #2

• dcmorrow

  iCloud Communications is a VoIP solution provider since 1985.
  
  What that says is they changed there name to iCloud. This Stinks.
  
  Their URL is "geticloud.com" Which means they did not or could not get icloud.com. Apple went to the source and bought the domain name for $4 million. Since this company did not sue the previous owner, they probably couldn't.
  
  Since Apple does not provide VoIP services I can't say these people are being pushed out of business that way.
  
  The Wikipedia page states their name is "Cloud Communications" and the history of that page starts: April 29, 2010.
  
  It's another, "Let's get rich off Apple attempt."

  13.6.2011 17:52 #3

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Quote:Apple officially filed for the trademark in the U.S. and Europe last week. They did a product launch and they didn't even bother to check if it was trademarked? I know iCloud.com isn't taken, but that does not mean no one owns the trademark.
  
  Right now some corporate lawyer at apple is thinking, "iForgot". You of all people know that Apple ALWAYS does "launch first, worry about legal sh*t later" lol
  

  AfterDawn News
  AfterDawn Guides
  AfterDawn Downloads
  AfterDawn Hardware Section

  13.6.2011 17:52 #4

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by dcmorrow:
  Since Apple does not provide VoIP services I can't say these people are being pushed out of business that way.
  Ignoring the fact that apple has facetime, and that it offers VoIP-only calling, they are still being pushed out of the way. If they had not filed this lawsuit, Apple would have sued them for using the name that Apple stole.
  

  http://killerbug666.wordpress.com/

  14.6.2011 03:54 #5

• xtago

  Originally posted by dcmorrow: iCloud Communications is a VoIP solution provider since 1985.
  
  What that says is they changed there name to iCloud. This Stinks.
  
  Their URL is "geticloud.com" Which means they did not or could not get icloud.com. Apple went to the source and bought the domain name for $4 million. Since this company did not sue the previous owner, they probably couldn't.
  
  Since Apple does not provide VoIP services I can't say these people are being pushed out of business that way.
  
  The Wikipedia page states their name is "Cloud Communications" and the history of that page starts: April 29, 2010.
  
  It's another, "Let's get rich off Apple attempt."
  
  A web domain isn't a trademark.
  
  Apple can buy icloud.com but they can't trademark icloud if it's too close to another trademark already in use.
  
  It's the same deal as world wrestling federation was forced to change their name when the world wildlife foundation sued they under trade mark laws.
  
  bringing up Wikipedia is a waste of time as it's all rego'd via the government, and wikipedia doesn't keep any of those records or maintain them.

  14.6.2011 04:54 #6

• KillerBug

  Wikipedia is a joke...anyone can change whatever they want to whatever they want...go ahead and try it...post that some historical figure was a homosexual pedifile...now it is part of the records!
  
  It is only good for an initial start of research; you have to triple-check anything that you find there, and you have to assume that there are important things not listed there.
  

  http://killerbug666.wordpress.com/

  14.6.2011 11:07 #7

• hearme0

  Originally posted by SProdigy: Blah, this happens when every iDevice is launched. Some troll crawls out from the woods and says "I own the trademark on that." I'm half tempted to create a few dozen "i" businesses of my own, because this looks better than the return on "profitable" .com names.
  And you're an idiot if you honestly believe that ICloud (or any other company with a similar dilemma) are "trolls" crawling out to sue. Cut and dry........YOU CAN'T F'ING TAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S TRADEMARKED NAME. Otherwise, what's the point of TMing? Now, if ICloud Comm didn't actually TM their name then that's different.

  14.6.2011 11:55 #8

• Azuran

  I have a hard time believing that Apple didn't do it's homework before embarking on multi-million dollar venture.
  

  14.6.2011 21:03 #9

• hearme0

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Wikipedia is a joke...anyone can change whatever they want to whatever they want...go ahead and try it...post that some historical figure was a homosexual pedifile...now it is part of the records!
  
  It is only good for an initial start of research; you have to triple-check anything that you find there, and you have to assume that there are important things not listed there.
  
  Wake Up!!!
  
  Generally speaking that's NOT how Wikipedia works. Most people are up front and honest. Lying usually only benefits one whom is looking for a tangible gain.
  
  Conspiracy theorist!!!

  15.6.2011 10:37 #10

• hearme0

  Originally posted by Azuran: I have a hard time believing that Apple didn't do it's homework before embarking on multi-million dollar venture. Not how that works either. Small little start-up ventures or people inventing with their own dime will certainly "do their homework" but large corporations will start first and ask questions later so you very well could be mistaken here..........but so could I.

  15.6.2011 10:39 #11

• SProdigy

  Originally posted by xtago: It's the same deal as world wrestling federation was forced to change their name when the world wildlife foundation sued they under trade mark laws. Actually it's a little different. World Wrestling Federation was originally the "WWWF" (World Wide Wrestling Federation) then changed to "WWF" (dropping the "wide" and cutting out 4 business partners from whom they leased athletic licenses from.) The newly christened WWF received permission to use those initials from the World Wildlife Fund, with whom already used those initials as part of their trademark.
  
  The use of the WWF trademark came into dispute after the wrestling folks violated the terms of it's use, which included a change of the logo, which is why the "Attitude" version of their marketing must be censored in past videos and any verbal reference to "WWF" is censored out as well. They are allowed to say "World Wrestling Federation" though. (The violation was also in Europe as opposed to US laws.)
  
  After this, they changed their intials to WWE, "Getting the F Out" which is in reference to their publicly traded name "WWFE" (World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc) It would be pretty silly to be "WWE" and "World Wrestling Federation", so they dropped "Federation" from their name and the rest is history.
  
  Oh and the guy who called me an "idiot", um, please refrain from using derogatory terms when someone is voicing their opinion. There are tons of patent trolls around there, and as pointed out here, the company is "Cloud Communications" not "iCloud". I'm pretty sure that Apple could also hunt down anyone using "i" as part of their name as well, since they pretty much have that market cornered, much like McDonald's use of "Mc" on everything from "McNugget" to "McCafe".

  21.6.2011 15:11 #12