Does someone own the letter i?

Post Reply New Topic

ever since Ipod the letter i is a big deal with most ipod accessories have i... in the name and now the DSi so the letter i is a big deal so I was curious does Apple or anyone own the rights to the letter i since it's a big deal?

No. But to be honest it does seem strange that so many companies use the "i." I guess it sounds cool in a way.

i is new x

x was new e

Etc... these fads come and go. Meh. Someone makes a ton of money with the right idea, and a hundred, nay a thousand, other entrepreneurs copy the same idea.

You know the "5 hour energy", right? (BTW, it doesn't work.) There's already a "6 hour boost", "7 hour pickup" and "10 hour shot" all released by different people and all packaged in similar small bottles. That was fast!

no one is allowed to own the rights to any letter, number, or common used word. Inorder to 'own' the name of a product, it has to be unique to that product, iPod was not a word used before they developed the product, so they are allowed to 'own' it. Anyway, it is iPod, and not i Pod (no space between i and the P, making it one word), but I believe most companies use i in the product name to say that it is interactive. If some other company made a product named iPob, or iBod, iBob, there is the chance that apple could sue them for infringing on there iPod trademark, as the company trying to use a similar name would be making money off of the iPod name

iDon't

Only if one could reasonably argue that that name would cause confusion as to the nature of affiliation of the product. I don't know if the format could be trademarked, like the lower-case i followed by a word starting with an uppercase.. that would be almost impossible. But if someone made an "iPad" that was a graphics tablet, Apple could claim that buyers would mistakenly believe that the item was made by them.
A major component of trademark law is market confusion.

Like when Oprah started "O the Oprah Magazine" there was a porn magazine called O that tried to sue on the premise that "O" was their trademark. The court decided that since no reasonable person could confuse Oprah's magazine with the porn magazine, there was no infringement.

What about x-Minute Abs, or (insert muscles to be toned) of Steel?

What about the TV show iCarly?

So a common word like apple or windows can't be owned or trademarked? Rosie O'donnell (yes, she is a b***h) sued the a radio station in Portland OR (know as the rose city) for calling itself Rosie 105. It was Rosie 105 long before she had her first screen test.. but she has better lawyers.. so it's now called "The Buzz 105". If you have enough money and layers, you can own just about anything in our wonderful nation.

you cannot buy a word out of the English language (at least thats what most courts would say)
'windows' cant be trademarked (even if it is, it would never stand up in court) Microsoft thinks they are god, and can buy whatever they please, so have already tried it
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3311641
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/tsearch/windows+trademark+battle.htm

The same applies for 'apple' they simply cant own the word 'apple'.

about 'Rosie' I think your mistaken, (but really I am not sure so anyone correct me if I am wrong) but Rosie O'donnell didnt 'win' the case saying that "Rosie 105" was any sort of infringment. It was simply easier for "Rosie 105" to change there name to "The Buzz 105" instead of paying lawers and all the money it would take to go to court over it. If they went to court and everything, I am sure "Rosie 105" would have won, no problem.

Our system is so screwed up, people and companies get away with stuff that they should not be allowed to, it happens everyday, but MOST (not all the time) by the time it gets high up in courts people finaly figure it out, and then they finaly figure out that windows is a word that microsoft cant own (could you imagine if microsoft had the power to sue every manufatuer of windows (the type in your house that you look out of) for using the word (actually I wouldnt be surprissed if they tried it )