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The tech media made a big deal out of the U.S. patent office “rejecting” Apple’s trademark application for the iPad mini — a decision that has now been withdrawn without Apple having to lift a finger.
MacRumors reported Sunday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has done an about-face on last week’s decision to temporarily deny Apple’s application for a trademark on the “iPad mini” name, which is essentially just an extension of Cupertino’s existing trademark on the iPad name.
The initial “office action” created a flood of hysteria in the tech press, with assumptions running wild that Apple had been denied the iPad mini trademark outright — an assumption that was quite false indeed.
The problem stemmed from Apple’s trademark application “having been judged as descriptive rather than contributing to a unique product name,” while a second objection calling out Apple’s use of a product page from their own website as proof that the iPad mini was actually being sold.
Without much detail, the USPTO has now withdrawn both complaints in a brief Office action posted last Wednesday: “The Trademark Act Section 2(e)(1) descriptiveness refusal and the Sections 1 and 45 specimen refusal are both withdrawn.”
The report notes that the reversal could have been made due to the volume of publicity the initial complaints received over the last week. The USPTO has also mandated that Apple will only protect the term “mini” when used as part of the “iPad mini” name, allowing others to use the term in their own products as well.
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