????鑒于蘋果（Apple）一直在堅持不懈地保護(hù)其商標(biāo),，人們也許想當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為在史蒂夫?喬布斯將iCloud樹為后PC時代的標(biāo)志并大張旗鼓、四處招搖之前,，蘋果的律師們應(yīng)該早就仔細(xì)調(diào)查過該商標(biāo)的使用情況,。
????果真如此的話，他們肯定沒有與一家位于菲尼克斯,、名為iCloud Communications的小公司達(dá)成協(xié)議,。這家通信公司宣稱從2005年開始就一直在VoIP（基于因特網(wǎng)協(xié)議的語音服務(wù)）業(yè)務(wù)中使用iCloud這個名字。上周四,，就在5,，200多位開發(fā)者齊聚舊金山，學(xué)習(xí)如何為蘋果iCloud編寫軟件的同時,，iCloud Communications通信公司在美國亞利桑那州地方法院以iCloud商標(biāo)侵權(quán)為由對蘋果提起了訴訟,。
????目前的情況有些蹊蹺,。蘋果于5月31日在歐洲申請了iCloud商標(biāo)，而就在當(dāng)天,，該公司發(fā)布了使用這一名字的首份新聞稿,。與此同時，CNET網(wǎng)站的商標(biāo)查詢顯示,，美國只有兩個有關(guān)iCloud商標(biāo)的記錄,。其中一個被一家名為Xcerion的瑞典公司注冊，據(jù)報道該公司在4月份時已將iCloud.com域名以450萬美元出售給蘋果,。另一個則是北卡羅來納州一個名為道格拉斯?丹?貝克的男子于5月6日申請的,。
????上周五，在trademarkia.com上能搜索到11個iCloud商標(biāo)申請,，全部是由蘋果在6月1日提交的,，并沒有顯示任何由iCloud Communications通信公司提交的申請。
????譯者：項(xiàng)航 |
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????Given what a stickler Apple (AAPL) is about protecting its trademarks (viz. its battle with Amazon over the phrase "app store") you might think its lawyers would have done a thorough search on the term "iCloud" before Steve Jobs started waving it around like a banner for the post-PC future.
????If they did, they failed to come to terms with a little Phoenix-based firm called iCloud Communications that claims it's been using that name for its VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) service business since 2005. Because on Thursday, even as more than 5,200 developers were learning how to write software for Apple's iCloud in San Francisco, the company was hit with a trademark infringement suit filed on behalf of iCloud Communications in U.S. District Court, Arizona District.
????It's a curious situation. Apple applied for an iCloud trademark in Europe on May 31, the same day it issued the first press release that used the term. At the time, according to a trademark search conducted by CNET, there were only two records of iCloud trademarks in the U.S. One was registered to a Swedish company called Xcerion that reportedly sold iCloud.com to Apple for $4.5 million in April. The other was filed on May 6 by a North Carolina man named Douglas Dane Baker.
????A search on trademarkia.com Friday turned up 11 iCloud applications, all filed by Apple on June 1. It did not turn up any filings by iCloud Communications. |
